SM x YGO: Duel of the Souls
by Saturnalius
Summary: Dreams plague Usagi's mind about an encounter she can't quite remember but she tries to drown her worries in her newest obsession, Duel Monsters, with her new friend Yugi. When strange people in blood red suits and unnecessarily greased hair begin to show up in Tokyo, dueling may be more dangerous than simply, as Rei puts it, children's card games.
1. From the Moon

_"Where did you come from?" He looked down at her, shadowed by the bright sunlight. He was dark, wearing white with a long cape trailing from his shoulders. The light obscured his feature, making him a dark silhouette against the bright sunlight._

 _"The Moon," she replied, staring up at him._

 _"The Moon?" he looked up at the sky. "That's quite a fall."_

 _"Can you help me?" she asked him. "I need to get back to the Moon."_

Usagi jarred awake, the sound of her alarm blaring in her ear. That was such a strange dream. Why did it make her feel happy? She rubbed at her face, feeling herself blush. Why was she having dreams about a man that _wasn't_ Mamo-chan?

She quickly hid under the covers, rubbing at her face. She was asking that stranger for help to go back to the Moon. Was this some sort of memory that she'd forgotten when visiting Earth in her past life? She did like to visit often, to find Endymion and to feel the breeze in her hair. Perhaps one time she'd gotten lost.

"Usagi-chaaaan." Luna pressed against the bedsheets where Usagi had burrowed. "Usagi-chan! You'll be late again!"

Usagi threw the bedsheets in surprise, knocking Luna off the bed. "Oh no!" She was in high school now. She could at least be on time.

Maybe.

Probably not.

"I'm sorry, Luna!" She picked up the moon cat, placing her back on the unmade bed before pulling her school uniform and falling down the stairs. Luna sighed as she heard Usagi bolt out the front door.

Usagi ran down the street, her mind still on the dream. It was strange. The dream was so foggy, but it felt somewhat familiar, as if she'd met the mysterious man with a cape before. Maybe it was Mamo-chan. He did like capes even as Endymion after all, but he was never that dark-skinned...

She wasn't watching where she was going, colliding into someone, knocking both of them down. Her cards fell from her bag as it fell out of her hand dramatically. "Owie owie owie!" she rubbed her butt. Looking up, she gasped. She'd run into a kid! He looked young but was about Usagi's height with peculiar hair that looked like a starfish. "Oh I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's my fault," the boy apologized. "I wasn't looking where I was going." He stared at the cards scattered on the sidewalk. "We've made a bit of a mess, didn't we?"

Usagi shook her head before suddenly gasping again. "Oh no! I just bought those cards! Motoki-kun said it was the newest game to play!"

"Duel Monsters?" the boy noticed the cards, looking over them fondly. "You'll need to take care of them." He quickly gathered the cards up, handing them off to her. "They can be very precious to you."

Usagi found it an odd thing to say. Perhaps people were more into this game than she thought, but the boy's enthusiasm caused her to smile anyway.. "Ah, thank you!" She took the cards, slipping them back into her bag. "Do you play, too?"

"I do!" the boy seemed to light up. "I really love this game."

"I just started," Usagi admitted. "I don't really know much about it yet."

"Make sure to build your deck with cards that speak to your heart," the boy suggested. "I'm Yugi, by the way. Mutou Yugi."

"Tsukino Usagi," she introduced herself. Then reality sunk in. "Oh god, I'm late for school!" She leapt up, grabbing her school bag. "Maybe we'll duel sometime!" she shouted over her shoulder as she dashed down the street. "Go easy on me!"

...

"Late again, Usagi-chan," Ami chided. "We're in high school now!"

"But Ami-chaaaaan!" Usagi whined. "I ran into some kid accidentally! It wasn't completely my fault this time. He helped me pick up my cards."

"So you _did_ get some," Minako pushed her way into the conversation.

"Some _what_?" Naru peered over curiously.

"Duel Monsters cards," Minako filled her in. "It's all the rage after this huge city-wide tournament called Battle City. Didn't you see it on TV?"

"They flew a blimp over the Domino prefecture!" Umino butted in unexpectedly. "It was all over the news. The winner was this kid named Mutou Yugi."

"W-what?!" Usagi exclaimed. "You're kidding! That's the kid I bumped into today!"

"No way," Umino pushed up his glasses. "He was just walking down the street?"

She nodded. "He was really nice," Usagi admitted. "I told him we should duel sometime. He seemed really happy about that, even if I don't know much about the game."

"You should really study up on the rules then," Ami pointed out sternly, "especially if you wish to challenge a champion."

"When did you suddenly get into Duel Monsters?" Minako prodded her friend.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Ami protested. "I like the statistics and the strategy."

"Leave it to Ami-chan to make a fun game sound boring," Minako sighed. "Whatever, let's see your cards, Usagi-chan!" She grabbed for the deck that Usagi had placed on her desk, shuffling through the cards. "Magician of Faith, Shining Friendship, Happy Lover, Fairywitch."

"That sounds just like what I'd expect for you to have, Usagi-chan," Naru admitted. "Cards of friendship and faith."

"Well Yugi-kun said to build a deck that spoke to my heart," Usagi recalled. "I guess he was pretty right with the cards I picked."

"I want to meet a champion!" Minako fawned a bit. "Is he as cute in person as he was on TV?"

"He certainly had a unique look to him," Usagi recalled. "I really only think Mamo-chan is cute."

Minako frowned, defeated. "Usagi-chaaaaaan!"

Ami snatched the cards from Minako's hand as the blond crumpled into a chair. She flipped through a few of the cards, one by one. Usagi certainly had a preference for light cards, which made sense for her. She was the embodiment of light and hope herself, after all. But there was still a rather obvious problem. "They're all low-level cards."

"What? But I thought they were good!" Usagi whined.

"How can you plan to duel a champion with low-level monsters?" Ami reiterated.

"It sounds like you're into this game, A-mi-cha~n," Minako teased.

"I'm interested in the statistics," Ami protested. She thumbed through the cards, burying herself in the math and the strategy of the cards. Usagi certainly had picked cards that seemed like her, but they wouldn't get far in any tournament.

Except for one card. "But this one would do." She turned the card over.

"Ooooh!" Umino marveled. "A Black Magician card! Those are pretty rare."

Usagi stared, taking the card. "This isn't mine." She stared at it some more before the realization hit her. "This must be Yugi-kun's card! It must've gotten mixed in with mine when we bumped into each other! I need to return it to him!"

"How are you going to find him in the entirety of Tokyo?" Minako pointed out.

"Well he's in high school like us, right?" Naru pondered aloud. "What uniform was he wearing?"

"It was a pretty bright blue with white lining," Usagi recalled. "Similar to Juuban's boy's uniform, but no zippers."

"Hmmm," Umino pushed his glasses up his nose. "That sounds like Domino High's uniforms. You might find him there."

Usagi nodded. She had to get this card back to him.

 **...**

 **Author's musings:**

A new year, a new story! I've been wanting to write a SM x YGO fic for some time! Prepare yourself for a duel!


	2. Two magicians

"It's not like you to be late, Yugi," Jounouchi teased. "Suddenly becomin' a delinquent?"

"Ah well, nothing quite like that," Yugi shook his head. "I accidentally bumped someone on the way here. She dropped all her Duel Monsters cards, so I helped her pick them up."

"That's so nice of you, Yugi," Anzu commented. It was somewhat expected, honestly. He was very kind, even to strangers. Time had passed since Battle City and delving into the Pharaoh's mind with that strange, twisted dream game. However, Yugi, and in turn the Pharaoh, seemed to be taking it well. Atem was still debating on what to do after regaining some of his memories, but at the current time, he decided to stay with Yugi just a bit longer.

"Did ya challenge her to a duel?" Jounouchi asked with a bit of a grin.

"Actually, she asked if we should duel sometime," Yugi replied. "She was just starting and trying to build her deck."

"Just starting?" Bakura butted in. "It's good to see people getting back to playing."

Yugi nodded. "I think it'd be fun to help her start her first deck. Her name was Tsukino Usagi-san. I'm not really sure what school she went to, however."

"That would make it a bit difficult to find her again," Anzu frowned, "especially with how big Tokyo is in general."

"She had a pretty unique hairstyle," Yugi added. "Odango with ponytails. And she wore a sailor school uniform, dark blue with red stripes on the collar."

"I'd guess that might be in Azabu-Juuban or Minato. I think that style is popular there," Anzu reasoned. "Probably because of the magical girls there."

"Magical girls, huh," Jounouchi grinned.

"Don't be a lech," Anzu pulled his ear.

"Owowowowow… Well in the meantime," Jounouchi quickly recovered, "why don't _we_ have a duel?"

"Okay!" Yugi cheerfully pulled his deck from his bag, thumbing through the cards, pausing at a particular one. "Moon Magician? I don't remember this one." It was a particularly new-looking card, average strength with a special skill that buffed the defense of light cards.

 _"Moon Magician?"_ The pharaoh peered over Yugi's shoulder. Something seemed familiar about a blond magician wearing a white dress, associated with the Moon. He blinked a few times when he noticed Yugi staring at him. _"It looks like a new card, that's all."_

"Other me is right," Yugi nodded. "This must be from a new line of cards." The others couldn't hear Atem, but they'd grown accustomed to having him there.

"I wonder if this belongs to that girl you bumped into," Anzu pondered.

"I should find her," Yugi nodded. "It'd be a shame to lose such a nice card." He thumbed through the rest of the deck, looking for any cards of hers, but found something of his missing. "Th-the Black Magician is gone!"

"What?!" Jounouchi exclaimed.

"Our special card!" Yugi fussed. He found the card even more important after learning that the Black Magician had been originally one of the Pharaoh's priests. The card meant a lot to both Yugi and Atem. "I have to find Tsukino-san! She must've ended up with it!"

As soon as the bell rang, Yugi bolted out the door, the others following him. He wasn't even completely sure which high school she belonged to, but he could still catch the subway to Azabu-Juuban. Perhaps someone had seen a bun-headed blonde and could point him in the right direction.

The school courtyard was pretty crowded with other students pushing about to go home. Using his smaller stature, Yugi wedged himself through the crowd, finally pushing through to the exit when he collided with someone. "Owwwww." He felt really clumsy today, repeatedly running into people today. Perhaps he was making a bad habit of this.

Usagi rubbed at her butt dramatically. It was the second time she'd fallen down today.

"I told you not to stand in the entrance, Usagi-chan," Naru chided her friend. Earlier she'd wedged her way in front of the others so that she could go with Usagi to Domino. Normally it _would_ be the others who traveled with her, but Naru wanted to spend some time with her best friend. Even if it was on some wild goose chase for a Duel Monsters champion with starfish hair. "I swear, you just don't think things through, do you?"

 _"Aibou, look,"_ Atem pointed out, standing behind his other half.

Yugi blinked, seeing the familiar blond odango hairstyle from this morning. "Tsukino-san!"

Usagi finally stopped fussing about falling down again, looking up to find the odd starfish-shaped hair and odd pendant once again. "Yugi-kun! Oh I'm so sorry! This is the second time I've knocked you down!"

Anzu nearly boiled over at how informally this Usagi was addressing Yugi.

"No it's alright, Tsukino-san" Yugi dismissed the need for an apology. "I wasn't looking either."

"You can call me Usagi," she corrected him. "Tsukino-san just sounds too formal for new friends!"

"New friends?" Anzu stared. That girl moved fast.

"There you go again," Naru teased, "making friends with people you push over."

"Naru-chaaaan!" Usagi whined. "It was an accident!"

"Oh right!" Yugi interrupted the teasing. "I have one of your cards, Usagi-san. I'm hoping you have one of mine. It's a very important card."

"Right!" Usagi snapped out of the whining, digging into her bag. "This is yours, isn't it?" She pulled the Black Magician card out, offering it to him.

Yugi lit up. "I'm so glad you had it! I was so worried I'd lost it." He cradled the card in his hands. It truly did mean a lot to him. That one precious card had gotten him through so much, all the battles and trials they both had endured. "Here's yours back too." He handed her the Moon Magician.

Usagi lit up as well. "My one nice card! Now Ami-chan won't criticize my deck anymore!"

"It's still terrible, Usagi-chan," Naru commented.

"You're so meaaaan, Naru-chan!" Usagi whined.

"Why don't we help you build a deck," Yugi suggested. "My grampa runs the best game shop in Domino. Consider it thanks for keeping my Black Magician safe."

Usagi lit up, distracted by the suggestion. "I'd really like that! I'd like to build something awesome!"

...

Naru glanced around Kame Game Shop. There were so many game she didn't recognize, all with colorful boxes and posters trying to vie for her attention. She was more about video games at the arcade than traditional tabletop games, however she had to admit some of the posters were pretty striking. She spotted a poster for Sailor Moon figures at the far end of the shop, admiring it for a moment before glancing back at Usagi.

"Never been to a game shop before, Naru-san?" Anzu noticed Naru's glassy-eyed look at the overdose of games in front of her.

"Usagi-chan and I like to go to the arcade, but I can't say we've been into this sort of stuff all that much," Naru replied. "I think Usagi-chan's just really excited for a new game with cute images. Perhaps more excited to find someone who actually wants to play. She tried to get me, but it's not really my thing. I'll stick to the Sailor V game."

Naru knew that Usagi had been through a lot lately. She strongly suspected her best friend was Sailor Moon, but she wasn't 100% sure. If it were true, being Sailor Moon must've been trying. She had seemed so sad at times, but lately it seemed like she was having more fun. Perhaps her battles were over. If she was Sailor Moon. She jarred from her thoughts as she heard Yugi's grampa speak.

"Nice to see my grandson bring home a cute young lady," Sugoroku chuckled.

Both Yugi and Usagi flushed red.

"Th-that's not it, Grampa!" Yugi flailed.

"I-I-I'm already taken!" Usagi flailed as well. "Mamo-chan is the only one for me!" Though there was that mysterious man in her dreams from her past life. She flushed even more, attempting to hide in her sailor collar.

Anzu sighed. So did Naru.

"W-we're here to help Usagi-san build her deck!" Yugi stammered.

"Ohoho," Sugoroku chuckled. "Well why didn't you say so! What sort of cards do you like, young lady?"

She blinked stupidly. This guy reminded her of Rei's grampa, just a bit _less_ lecherous but not by much. "Ah, well, I like things with magic and light and hope." She laid out the cards on the counter, spreading them out. "Ami-chan said my deck is weak and doesn't have a lot of power."

Sugoroku glanced over the cards. They weren't much of note, save the Moon Magician card. "Do you believe in your cards?"

Usagi blinked. "Believe in them?"

"There's this concept called the heart of the cards," Sugoroku explained. "It's the most important concept when it comes to dueling."

"The heart of the cards?" Usagi echoed. That sounded like something she'd be interested in. "Where is this heart?"

"It's nothing physical, no card or token can reflect this," he continued. "It's something you believe in yourself. Your faith that the cards will help you out, to steer you in the right direction. It's how Yugi has won so many tournaments."

She glanced over at Yugi who seemed to be beaming. "You have faith in your cards?"

Yugi nodded. "Even the weakest of monsters can become strong when you have faith in them and use them well. Do any of them call to you?"

Usagi stared down at the deck on the counter for a moment. Her deck was pretty lacking, but one called out to her loudly.. "This one." She tapped the Moon Magician.

"That's the one that got mixed up in my deck when we collided," Yugi recalled. "Grampa, do you think you can help build a deck to support the Moon Magician?"

Sugoroku placed his hands on his hips proudly with a bit of proud laugh. "Of course! I'd be happy to. Let's see what we can find to get you all set up."

 **...**

 **Author's notes:**

Usagi telling Yugi to call her by her first name (and her calling him by his) is very informal. Usually you use someone's last name until you get to know them, but when has Usagi ever been one for formalities? It just rubs Anzu the wrong way at first.


	3. Deja vu

Yugi thumbed through his cards, laying down on his bed and still thinking about the encounter today with Usagi. She sure was sweet, someone he could definitely be friends with. It was nice to see new people getting into Duel Monsters after Battle City. The public hadn't seen how weird and deadly Battle City turned out to be, and if they had, the game would likely be abandoned altogether. Fortunately with that all hidden away, people could still enjoy the game as it was intended.

He sat up, noticing Atem at his desk staring at the Battle City posters on the wall. It wasn't uncommon for the Pharaoh to sit and think lately, but this time, it felt like something big was keeping him distracted from the latest _Duelist_ magazine sitting on the desk. "Something wrong, Other me?"

 _"Something just seems to be preoccupying my mind lately,"_ Atem replied.

"Is it your past again?" Yugi knit his brow in worry. "Are you still worried about what happened in the Memory World?" That was a mess. Yugi couldn't deny that one bit. He still hadn't figured out how much of it was real memories and how much of it was that thief's soul screwing around with them.

 _"It's not that,"_ the pharaoh shook his head. _"It's strange, almost like I've had a dream. I feel like I've forgotten something that happened."_

"We didn't quite recover all your memories yet," Yugi frowned. "Maybe there's some other way we can get them back."

 _"Perhaps. I feel like this is something that happened before everything fell apart,"_ Atem admitted. _"It's a strange feeling of deja vu, Aibou. I just can't put a finger on it."_

"What sort of deja vu?" Yugi inquired, tucking the deck away to listen to his other self's concerns. "Is it a bad memory?"

 _"Nothing like that, Aibou,"_ Atem shook his head. _"More like some sort of encounter, someone I've forgotten. I remember her just a bit. Pale, impossibly long flowing silver hair and a white dress. She said she was from the Moon."_

"The Moon?" Yugi echoed. That was strange, but then again, he also shared a body with an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who could summon gods. A lot was strange. "Do you remember her face?"

 _"That's just it,"_ Atem frowned. _"Her images are somewhat hazy. I can see the silver hair, but I can't see her face, like she's covered in the fog of a memory just beyond reach."_

Yugi frowned too. That sounded vague enough to be troubling. It could be an enemy or an ally from the past or just a really fuzzy, jumbled memory of someone he knew. "Kisara?"

" _Definitely wasn't her,"_ he shook his head. He still had the image of Seto stuck to the back of his mind with Kisara in his arms. " _I don't recognize her, but at the same time, I do."_

Yugi tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Did the Moon Magician card give you the deja vu? I noticed you were staring at it."

 _"That's when I first felt like I'd lost the memory,"_ Atem nodded. _"It's possible this is a reflection of a Ka I once encountered in the past. Her Ka."_ He felt a longing to find the owner of the Ka, to pair it with a current incarnation. Perhaps she'd been reborn here in the present as well. He had a tendency to drift towards familiar Ka without realizing it.

Yugi peered at his other self curiously, watching him rub at his face for a moment. "Did you fall for her?"

Atem blinked stupidly. _"Wh-what?"_

"Did you fall in love with the moon lady from your memory?"

 _"What kind of question is that, Aibou?!"_ Atem vehemently denied the possibility. _"It's just a vague memory, after all."_

"I'm just teasing." Yugi reached for the card magazine on the side table, amused at how flustered Atem had become. "You know. I wonder if Usagi-san is somehow linked to this memory of yours."

 _"How so?"_ Atem peered over at his partner curiously, avoiding any notion that he could've fallen for the moon lady.

"You're linked to the Black Magician," Yugi explained. "That's my favorite card. Kaiba-kun is linked to the Blue Eyes White Dragon, like his ancestor too. Maybe she's linked somehow."

 _"Perhaps."_ Atem reasoned. Yugi was right about the favorite cards. Even if he couldn't remember it at first, the favorite cards were linked to their collective past. Usagi did seem to treasure that Moon Magician. It had spoken to her quite quickly. _"I imagine this won't be the last time we encounter Usagi and her friends."_

"Definitely not," Yugi agreed. "After all, we still haven't dueled yet."

A friendly duel. Yes that would be a good distraction. " _We do need to do that."_ And somehow that always did bring everyone together. Atem couldn't deny it was the tie that bound them all together.

Yugi smiled brightly. "We'll have to go easy on her. After all, it's a fun duel!"

Atem nodded with a smile. " _Definitely."_

 _..._

"Achoooo!"

Naru stared at her friend. "Are you getting a cold suddenly, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi rubbed at her nose, sniffling dramatically. "I hope not! Maybe someone's talking about me right now."

"Maybe it's that Yugi-kun," Naru pointed out. "He seemed to be excited you were playing Duel Monsters too."

"That could be it," Usagi agreed. She couldn't deny he was nice, nothing like she'd expected a game champion to be. He reminded her of herself in a way, that sort of awkward, clumsy person who was surrounded by friends. Perhaps it was that similarity that drew them together so quickly. Perhaps Yugi was just a friendly person like she was. "You know, maybe next time we can build you a deck!"

"I think I'll pass," Naru quickly rejected the idea. "Besides, you have Yugi-kun to play with. I'll go hang out with Anzu-chan."

"You two did seem to get along really well!" Usagi recalled. "I bet you two can become friends."

"Sure wouldn't mind adding another to our circle of friends," Naru agreed. "I bet we could go shopping. She looked rather fashionable."

"That was a cute girl's uniform," Usagi nodded.

"It was, but beyond that. Did you see her bracelet?" Naru pointed out. "She definitely knows her jewelry."

"You _would_ notice that, wouldn't you?" Usagi giggled.

"I know a good bracelet when I see one!" Naru affirmed. "Though you know, if you didn't blow your allowance on games, you could have a nice bracelet too."

"Naru-chaaaan," Usagi whined. "Where's the fun in that? Games are so cool!"

"Oh Usagi-chan, you're hopeless," Naru sighed. "Try to save some allowance next time." She offered her friend a wave as the approached the Tsukino house. "See you tomorrow, Usagi-chan!"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naru-chan!" Usagi waved as she scampered into her house. She hid the deck of cards in her school bag. She didn't need her mom knowing she blew her allowance on a TCG and spent the evening with a bunch of guys talking about cards. Well it was her allowance anyway. She could do what she wanted with it.

But there was another problem. There was a second gate guardian standing at her bedroom door, peering up at her with curious red eyes, twitching her whiskers.

"I was out with friends," Usagi explained to the silent question, opening her door and dropping her bag on the floor. She pulled on her pink pajamas before pulling the deck from her bag. It was pretty solid, themed around the Moon Magician. She'd never thought about cards having a heart of their own, but she did understand the concept. She relied on her friends for strength and hope like Yugi relied on his friends and cards.

He was certainly an interesting one to accidentally collide with.

She picked up the phone, dialing the familiar number. She wound her finger around the coiled phone cord as it rang, waiting for him to pick up. And sure enough, he did. "Mamo-chan!"

 _"Hey, Usako,"_ he greeted her. _"What's up?"_

She wound her finger around the cord some more. She called him nearly every night after he'd gone off to college. It was hard to be separated from him, but he was the smarty. He could get a degree and she could be a housewife. Future _queen_ , more correctly. "I wanted to tell you about this new game I'm playing. Duel Monsters. Have you heard of it?"

 _"I have,"_ he replied. _"Several of my dormmates have been playing it in the common area. Is that what your playing now, Usako?"_

Usagi nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her do it. "I have. I actually made some new friends with it! Well kinda. I accidentally bumped into him and our cards got mixed up. He's a champion duelist even! He helped me build a deck. He's really sweet."

 _"Sounds just like you, Usako. Making friends with people you knock over."_

"Mamo-chaaaaaaan!" Usagi whined. "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

 _"I know, I know,"_ he laughed. _"I know you better than anyone else, after all."_

Usagi giggled. "Well that is true. In this life and the next."

 _"Tell you what, Usako. Why don't I send you some cards in the mail?"_ Mamoru offered.

Usagi lit up. "Really? I'd like that a lot! I can make everyone jealous that it is Mamo-chan's special cards! I'll treasure them forever."

"Well until you find something more interesting to catch your attention," Luna muttered.

Usagi stuck her tongue out at the moon cat. "I'll look for it in the mail... mhm... mhm... I love you too, Mamo-chan." She hung up the phone. Mamoru was so sweet, even buying into her silly obsessions with games. She yawned, collecting the cards and placing them on her nightstand. She didn't tell him about her dreams yet. She wasn't sure what to make of them. Perhaps it was just weird dream from watching too much anime on tv the night before. Yeah, that was absolutely it. Burrowing under the covers, she drifted off.

...

 _"You wish to go to the Moon?" He seemed to be surprised by her request. She could hear him shift in his stance, the copious amount of jewelry adorning his silhouetted form clinking together._

 _"I'm from there," she explained. "I wanted to see what Earth looked like, but I think I fell and got stuck."_

 _"Stuck?" the man echoed. He stared up at the sky. It was currently the middle of the day, the sun shining brightly. He couldn't see the Moon currently, but it was always there. It was part of the heavens, after all. "I can't say I've ever met someone from the sky before. Are you a goddess?"_

" _Goddess?" she repeated in surprise. "Well that's a silly question. Of course I'm not."_

 _He seemed surprised by the response, but she probably should've expected him to be. People on Earth didn't know about people from the Moon. They two had always been separate, forbidden to talk to the other kingdom. It was something she didn't quite understand. Earth was really nice, if not a bit hot._

 _He paused for a moment before reaching out to her, offering his hand. "Perhaps the priests would know a way to get you back. Come with me."_

 _She felt herself blush as she placed her hand in his. She peered up at him, his bright purple eyes shining for just a moment before the dream faded away._...

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Two people sharing dreams brought together by a collision. How could anything go wrong?


	4. Innundation

"So you actually had Yugi-kun _and_ his grandfather build your deck _for_ you!? Luckyyyyyy!" Minako angrily jabbed her spoon into her parfait.

"They're all really nice," Usagi admitted. "I invited them to join us today, but we were pretty late with detention. We might've missed them. But if we did, we can always invite them again." A few days had passed since she'd seen Yugi and his friends, mostly trying to focus on some school but ultimately delving into duels and manga instead. She was truly terrible at this studying thing.

"Really?" Minako perked up. "I want to meet Yugi-kun and his friends!"

"I think you want to date someone famous," Artemis commented snidely.

"No one asked you," Minako flicked him in the nose. "Anyway, they sound like they could be really good friends. And maybe they could help me with my deck too." She was practically exuding sparkles with stars dotting her eyes.

"They could!" Usagi agreed with a smile. She pushed at her parfait with her spoon, the dream still clouding her mind. It had become more prevalent lately, leaving her waking up suddenly and feeling like she'd forgotten someone important. It was perhaps even more of a distraction than dueling and playing with her new deck. "Say, Minako-chan."

"Hm?" Minako broke her idolizing for a moment. "Something on your mind, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi paused, taking a moment to chew on her spoon. "You remember a lot of our past life, right?"

"Well that's a sudden question," Minako pointed out. Usagi hadn't asked much about their past lives during the Silver Millennium, remembering quite a bit of it after they'd all awoken in the fight against Queen Beryl, but to bring it up now? Something was on her mind. "What's going on?"

"I've been having this strange dream," Usagi admitted. "It's me as Princess Serenity, I think, but I've fallen to Earth and got stuck there. But then this man rescues me. He's wearing white and a lot of jewelry but I can't see his face."

"Well there were quite a few times you snuck off to Earth," Minako recalled, leaning on her elbows on the table, "but it was always to see Endymion."

Usagi stared at the parfait again. "Did I ever get... lost?"

"I don't remember that specifically, but I don't remember everything from our past," Minako admitted. "Do you think it's a memory?"

"I'm not sure," Usagi shook her head. "It could be a dream but it feels so real, like I'm trying to remember something I forgot. Each time, I remember a bit more of the dream, like I'm watching a movie."

"How strange," Minako observed. "Maybe it really is a memory, though I don't actually remember Endymion ever wearing jewelry."

"I don't think it was him though," Usagi admitted. "The man in my dream was really dark skinned, and even Endymion was pale. But the man did seem to want to help me get back to the Moon."

"That's a very specific thing to remember," Minako considered the description. "His jewelry and his skin, but not his face?"

"He's always got his back to the sun," Usagi explained. "I feel like I know him, but I just can't remember who he is."

Minako frowned a bit, thinking back to her attempts to recover her memories. She recalled Adonis, a man from her own past who seemed like an ally but turned out to be an enemy. Hopefully this mysterious man wouldn't turn out that way. At least Usagi had the senshi to back her up if he did. "Could be just a dream."

Usagi frowned, chewing on her spoon some more. "Maybe." But her heart told her this man was real.

Minako stared out the window, suddenly distracted by a massive downpour. People on the streets began to scatter, becoming soaked in the rain. "Was there rain in the forecast today?"

Usagi stared too. That storm had approached so suddenly, darkening the bright and sunny afternoon sky and bringing rain with its approach. "On no. I didn't bring an umbrella today!"

Minako stared outside some more. "Usagi-chan, do you see that?" Out in the middle of the storm stood a man in a crisp blood-red suit with jet black hair slicked back. The rain seemed to call to him, surrounding him but never touching him to a point where it looked like he was summoning it.

Minako slipped out of the booth, beckoning for Usagi and the moon cats to follow along. The group peered out the door of the Parlor, watching the man curiously and suspiciously.

"It's time to flood the world to find _her_ and _him_. The remnants shall fall."

Usagi and Minako exchanged worried looks.

"An enemy?" Usagi knit her brow together in worry. "And after all that work we did to restore the Galaxy Cauldron." She knew that the world still had chaos within it but to find it so soon? She had hoped for a bit more respite, at least.

"We should transform!" Minako summoned her sailor crystal to her hands.

Magic and sparkles and light burst out the Parlor door, quickly grabbing the suited man's attention.

"Hold it right there!" Eternal Sailor Moon proclaimed. She had lost her wings, shattered in her fight with Shadow Galactica, but her crystal had still remained intact, allowing her to still transform and fight. Just without the cumbersome wings. For the better, truly, as the rain doused them to the point that her hair was sticking to her face.

"I'm the pretty suited soldier, Sailor Moon!" she introduced herself.

"And with her, the goddess of love, Sailor Venus!" Venus added.

"We won't allow you to flood the world!" Moon continued. "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

"Lofty words," the man hissed. "But this doesn't concern you."

"This is our world, and we'll protect it against those who wish to harm it!" Sailor Moon announced. She summoned her Eternal Tiare to her hand.

"What is this, Saturday night anime?" the man fussed. "We settle this with duels. Prepare yourself, Moon and Venus, for a tag-team duel."

….

"Just how many Crown places _are_ there in Juuban?" Jounouchi rubbed at his forehead. "This is giving me a headache."

"She said Crown Fruits Parlor," Yugi recalled. "There can't be many of those, right? It seems pretty unique."

"It's down the street," Anzu directed them. "I just asked the guy in the shop. You know, that would've been much easier if we did that in the first place."

"Yeah yeah," Jounouchi waved it off.

"You wanted to come along." Anzu pulled his ear. "Just stop complaining and let's go." She paused, her hand still tugging his ear as she noticed the clouds quickly roll in. "Was there rain in the forecast today?"

"I don't think so," Yugi shook his head. "Grampa didn't give me an umbrella today." He shook his head some more, closing his eyes and pausing for a moment. "Something feels wrong."

Anzu stared at him for a moment. There were the subtle changes she had come to recognize when the two had swapped the body, when one was in control of the other. The voice was more confident, even with the short warning. "Atem?"

He nodded. "I've been getting deja vu lately," he admitted. He'd talked to Yugi about it, the strange dreams that seem to unfold like turns in a game. He hadn't mentioned it to the others, but he'd left Yugi to speak for him lately as he dwelled on his fractured memory. "Something about this feels familiar."

"Deja vu?" Anzu echoed. "Something that we didn't find within the Memory World?"

Atem nodded. "I'm not sure what it means yet, but it's all just a haze."

"It's just rain, Yugi," Jounouchi shrugged, calling him by his other half's name.

"Deja vu is strange like that," Anzu noted. "Anything can trigger a memory. Perhaps there's something about sudden rain that seems familiar. Wasn't there an inundation festival every year in Ancient Egypt?"

"There was," Atem recalled. "It brought in water and life to the harvest every year. We've seen it rain many times, but I don't think I've ever felt deja vu from it."

"Perhaps remembering your true name has caused you to remember things," Anzu suggested. She frowned as the rain began to pour in sheets. "We should find Crown Fruits Parlor and take shelter before we become utterly soaked."

They quickly rounded the corner, following the instructions that Anzu had gotten from the store. Sure they'd found the Parlor, but they'd also walked in on some sort of unusual scene.

"Magical girls?" Anzu reasoned. She'd heard about them, strong sailor-suited soldiers who protected Tokyo against magical threats. They seemed more like fiction but she'd seen them on the news quite a number of times over the last two years.

And sure enough, there they stood, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus, facing off against some man in a blood red suit.

"D-duel?!" Moon stammered. "Are you serious?"

"Magical battles are overrated," the man pointed out. "It's time to put your power where the cards are. Both of you, prepare yourselves." He held a deck in his hand, poising it in front of him with a curved arm. Nearly obscured by the fall of the pouring rain, he seemed to double himself as a second man in a suit appearing beside him. Moon would've thought herself seeing double if the second man hadn't had white hair.

"He can't be serious, can he?" Venus blinked stupidly. "I don't even have a deck yet! This is crazy!"

Moon patted down her fuku for her deck. "This might be the only way to punish evil. I've barely even started playing!" She found her deck magically appearing, decorated with a crescent moon on the back instead of the usual Duel Monsters logo.

"I'll be your partner in this tag team."

Moon blinked. She knew that voice but it sounded more confident than before. She turned over her shoulder, staring wide-eyed. "Y-yugi-kun?"

Venus stared. So that was Yugi. He sure seemed confident, standing tall and proud with his deck of cards in his hand. "You really shouldn't get involved in this! You could get hurt!"

"Heh," Atem smiled. "I've been through a lot, particularly with duels. I'm sure we can be victorious. Besides, if these suited men are causing trouble here, it seems only right we bring them to justice." He hadn't actually planned to intervene but when they'd come across the scene, he had to do something. That deja vu was still itching at the back of his mind, and he reasoned these men in blood red suits had something to do with it. Perhaps he could get an exciting duel out of it in the end.

"I barely even know how to play," Moon reiterated.

"Don't worry," Atem countered. "Just believe in the heart of the cards." He smiled at her confidently and reassuringly in a way she was certain it had to be true. Pausing, he dug into his pocket, pulling out a sort of bracelet. "You'll need this."

"What's this?" Moon took the offered bracelet.

"Latest in Kaiba Corp holographic technology," Atem explained, showing off the one he wore.

"Holowhata?" Moon blinked.

He frowned a bit, peering at the two suited men. They sure were being patient for antagonists. He turned back to Moon, showing off that he wore a similar bracelet. "Here, watch." He held his deck out. The bracelet lit up, displaying the deck on the ground as if it were a giant set of cards.

"Whoa," Venus marveled. "It's like a real life video game!"

Moon put the bracelet on her wrist, holding out her deck which appeared on the ground too. She had to have faith in her cards, just like Yugi and Sugoroku had said. The cards could feel one's faith and hope, and as Sailor Moon, she was often a beacon of hope and faith for people.

She could see a few people gather about, seeking shelter in the nearby shops to stay dry in the rain. Moon, Venus, and Yugi unfortunately were thoroughly soaked in the rain. Good thing she didn't have the wings to weigh her down anymore.

"About time," the black-haired man in the suit smirked.

"For this we'll be sharing a pool of life points," Atem explained. He flicked his wrist up, making a wide spanning motion as several smaller holographic cards appeared in front of him. "We can't see each others' cards, but we can use our own cards to help each other out."

Moon took a deep breath, summoning her own inner strength. She'd fought queens and galactic enemies, downed forms of Chaos and purified the Galactic Cauldron so that all could live free of Chaos. A duel against some rainbringer shouldn't be too hard. Maybe.

She glanced at Yugi. He seemed confident, but that was what she expected from a champion duelist. She knew she couldn't lean on him completely, but perhaps she simply had to rely on his word instead. Believe in the heart of the cards.

 **...**

 **Author's notes:**

So the bad guys finally make an appearance! Having slicked-back hair seems to be a bad idea in the middle of a rainstorm, but these guys don't seem to particularly care.

The duplication is a nod to Chiral and Achiral during the Black Moon arc.


	5. Magician's Battle

What a strange afternoon this ended up being. Sailor Moon facing off against a pair of suited, rain-bringing weirdos with her new friend standing at her side. A tag-team match in a game she barely knew with some holographic bracelet that he'd given her. It was pouring rain and she was soaked, her long hair tangling with her arms. This was weird. Very weird.

She flicked her wrist, summoning several cards to her hand. They were all the new cards that Sugoroku and Yugi had helped her build. A few fairies, a spell card, and trap card she hadn't quite read. She had to have faith in these cards, which would be hard given she barely knew them.

"Let's start this off," the black-haired, red-suited man proclaimed. "I summon Curse of Dragon. End turn." Before him manifested a massive yellowish dragon that looked like it might've seen better days. It had a large wingspan and a face that only a mother could love.

"Whoa!" Venus exclaimed. She had taken to standing in the back, unable to participate in the duel herself even though she wanted to fight next to her friend and princess. She didn't have a deck nor did she actually know how to play the game. She'd have to leave this up to Sailor Moon and the Duel Monsters champion. If it became magical, she'd jump in. For now, she'd marvel at the duel. "It's like the cards just became real!"

"It's holographic technology," Anzu explained calmly. "It only looks and seems real. It's projected by the bracelets they're all wearing." She was concerned at how quickly Atem had jumped into the battle. Perhaps it was that deja vu he was feeling or that he needed a battle. Whatever it was, he was now partnered with a magical girl in a short skirt. She stared at Atem's back. He wasn't looking at Sailor Moon. He was looking at the battle. At least.

"My turn," the white-haired, red-suited man proclaimed. "I summon Lord of Dragons. End turn." Before him summoned a rather unsightly lord who looked like he was wearing a skull for his hat.

"He's trying to protect his partner," Atem observed.

"How so?" Moon blinked stupidly. She didn't understand this game quite yet.

"Lord of Dragons allows him to protect all dragons on his side of the field," Atem explained. "There are ways around it, but he's trying to check all his bases."

"I see, I see," Sailor Moon nodded. It made sense, in a way. The two were working together to protect their own life points. She worked with her own guardians in a similar way, but that was magic. This was cards. But perhaps if she thought of them as magic, maybe she'd understand them. She quickly read over the cards feeling even more confused and throwing out the first card that spoke to her. "Maiden of Moonlight. On the field. End turn, I think."

Atem glanced at Sailor Moon. It was an interesting first card to pull, but perhaps the cards were speaking to her. The card was a light-based magician he'd seen it many times but something about moonlight continued to ping at the back of his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about the girl who fell from the sky, the one with the silver hair that simply wanted to go back home. He shook the fragmented dreams from his mind. He had other things to think about right now.

 _"Are you alright, Other me?"_ Yugi loomed over the Pharaoh's shoulder. _"Is it more deja vu? Do you want me to take over?"_

" _I'm fine._ " Atem nodded, focusing on his hand for a moment. He had to try to focus on the battle at hand. "I summon Buster Blader to the field. He gains 500 points for each Dragon type on the field. I also place this card face down and end my turn."

"I summon Baby Dragon to the field," the black-haired, red-suited man stated as a small, cute orange dragon appeared on the field. "Time to get rid of the weakest link. I cast the spell Duo Blaster, which allows all my cards to attack at once! Both dragons, attack the Maiden of Moonlight!"

The two dragons opened their jaws wide, fire and light appearing at their open maws. At the command of the black-haired, red-suited man, they fired their attacks in unison, the magic careening straight for Sailor Moon's sole card.

"That's not what cute things are supposed to do!" Sailor Moon gasped, bracing herself as if the attack would hit her. She didn't have anything to protect her Maiden at all. Perhaps she'd survive the attack from one dragon, but with two, there was no way she'd survive.

"Heh," Atem smirked. "Trying to gain the advantage by having two monsters attack at once? Not on my watch. Activate trap card, Mirror Force!" A mirror reflection formed in front of the Maiden of Moonlight, protecting the scowling maiden from the attack. "Reflect the attack back at the Lord of Dragons!"

The dual attack careened towards the Lord of Dragons, blasting him away and whittling down the opposing teams' life points. The effects blasted the rain away for a moment, lifting it up before it all careened down in a sudden splash of rain.

The two suited men frowned, soaked by the sudden rush of rain. "What a strategy," the black-haired one scoffed.

"Surprising for kids," the white-haired one scoffed. "Do you think they're them?"

"Unlikely," the black-haired one replied. "Just fodder in the way."

Sailor Moon turned to Atem. "You protected my card!"

"Of course," Atem offered her a thumbs up. "We are partners right now. Keep putting down cards that speak to you, I'll back them up."

He was really being supportive of her. She blushed just a bit, rubbing at her face like the rain was getting in her eyes. Which it was. But that wasn't the reason. She shouldn't be blushing. She had Mamoru to fawn over. She wanted to get to know Yugi more as Usagi. She didn't need to rope him into this magical world anymore than he already was.

"Che," the white-haired, red-suited man scoffed. "I place these cards face down on the field and end my turn."

 _Believe in the heart of the cards, believe in the heart of the cards_ , Moon repeated to herself. That's what Sugoroku and Yugi both told her. She was one to have faith in her own heart. _Give me something that can help win this battle._

She closed her eyes, flicking her wrist, and sure enough, a familiar card came to her hand. "I summon the Moon Magician! And I place this one card face down.` End turn!" She wasn't really certain about that face down card. She still wasn't completely sure she understood counters and counter-counters and how many counters were there in this game? She really had no idea.

Both Atem and Yugi stared. It was that rare card they both saw before, the one Usagi had treasured when she was building her deck at Kame Game Shop. There was no way that Sailor Moon was Usagi. It had to be coincidence, one that was starting to rattle the pharaoh. Atem shook his head. What was it about that card that gave him deja vu? It must be that weird memory he'd been having lately.

 _"Focus, Other me!"_ Yugi chided.

 _Right. Focus on the battle._ "Draw!" A grin spanned his features. "I summon the Black Magician to the field."

Sailor Moon stared. She'd seen the card before when she had Yugi's card in her deck, but something about seeing it scratched at the back of her mind, like she'd seen it before, lifesize, standing before her. This was the first time she'd seen it summoned, so that was impossible.

"Using my Fusion card, I summon the Dark Paladin, the Ultimate Magical Swordsman, to the field! I also place these cards face down. Attack and destroy the Baby Dragon!"

The Dark Paladin careened forward, slicing the Baby Dragon in two and stepped back as the illusion faded away. The Paladin stood smuggly back on Atem's side of the field, offering the pharaoh a grin over his shoulder.

Atem smiled back before returning his focus to the field. "And with that, I end my turn."

Did that monster just wink at Yugi? Moon shook her head. It wasn't time to think about that. Yugi was skilled. He knew what he was doing in this duel, and hopefully that meant a victory for them both. She'd never fought a battle like this. Magic seemed easier at this point.

"You think it's him?" the black-haired one questioned.

"Likely," the white-haired one replied.

The black-haired one drew a card, cackling suddenly. "I place this card face down and then summon Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

"What?!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "That thing is huge!"

"Fire," he commanded.

"Activate trap!" Moon shouted. "Magician's Selection. Reflect the attack back!" For once, she actually played a card right. She was proud of herself.

"I don't think so!" the black-haired man countered. "Mirror Force!"

So much for that pride.

"I don't think so either!" Atem countered him as well. "I equip the Moon Magician with the Magic Cylinder!"

Venus was certain her head was spinning with how many counters there were.

The white-clad Moon Magician now confidently held a black cylinder that looked closer to a cannon. The cannon absorbed the attack, whirred a bit, then shot the attack right back at the dragon. The impact was strong, kicking up the rain and blowing smoke and steam across the entire street.

Sailor Moon coughed a few times until the smoke had cleared. It wasn't real smoke, but her mind seemed to process that it was. And once it did clear, both men had suddenly fled the battlefield. "They fled?"

"Seems they couldn't stand to lose in the end," Atem shook his head.

She found it a very strange encounter, not quite anything she'd fought in the past. Normally the bad guy would try to kill her, not battle her in a trading card game and then flee before the battle was finished. Yep, everything about this was weird.

She glanced over at Atem, seeing briefly a glowing eye-like shape overcome his forehead. She blinked a few times, and the image was gone. Perhaps she was seeing things.

The two stared up towards the sky. The rain stopped, and the clouds rolled out as fast as they'd arrived. This was an enemy Moon simply couldn't understand, and it left too many questions in her mind.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

First time writing a duel. It had been years since I actually played a Duel Monsters game, so I had to remind myself of all the rules. Not that the rules always apply in the manga. Double duels have so many intricate rules to them, so I thought I'd have a little fun with them.

And Anzu's jealousy knows no bounds. Funny that Atem is more focused on the duel and not on a wet magical girl in a spandex leotard and short skirt.


	6. Children's Card Games

"I'm telling you, Rei-chan!" Usagi explained again. "It was really weird!"

"Let me see if I understand this," Rei frowned. "You fought a pair of guys in suits with children's card games while it was raining?"

"It was more than that!" Minako insisted. "There was one, then suddenly there was two of them! They were talking about finding some people!"

"We did manage to sneak around during the battle," Artemis admitted. "Luna and I both heard the two men speaking about finding two people. They may be targeting Yugi-kun. It seemed like he may have been the 'he' they were searching for."

"They also said something about setting some plan in motion before they fled," Luna added.

Usagi stared at the dueling bracelet on her wrist she'd received from Yugi. He'd told her to keep it for now before they parted. He was quite an interesting person. Even though they just met, she wanted to get to know him and his friends better. "I'm not completely sure why they're after Yugi-kun, though for a second, I thought I saw some sort of eye on his forehead."

"An eye? What kind?" Makoto asked. "Do you think he might be dangerous?"

"I don't think he's dangerous," Usagi shook her head. "He's got a strong sense of justice. I think there's more to him, especially with that colorful eye. Maybe he has some sort of power that they really want, that these suited men might think can only be found with Duel Monsters duels."

"What could possibly be revealed with card battles?" Rei scoffed.

"Duels," Minako corrected her.

Usagi held the Moon Magician's card up in her had. "Yugi-kun was certain that there's this thing called the heart of the cards, something that's like hope and faith that the cards will bring you victory. This only works on a strong, hopeful heart, apparently."

"That certainly _seems_ mystical," Makoto agreed.

"There's something more," Usagi paused, staring at the card a bit more. She wasn't certain she should mention everything else that had been happening, but she'd already let some of the words lip from her mouth. "That Black Magician Yugi-kun summoned. I feel like I've seen him before."

"You had that card when his card got shuffled in with your deck," Minako pointed out.

"Not like that," Usagi shook her head. "I felt like I'd stood behind that magician before, like he was protecting me."

"Well that's weird," Minako nodded like she was confirming some sort of sentiment that was never actually previously said.

"It felt like deja vu," Usagi added. "For a moment, I thought I had seen a flash of something that happened before."

The group fell silent, staring at the tea and treats on the table. No one needed to say it aloud. They all silently understood a new enemy had potentially surfaced. They had fought so hard against Shadow Galactica to have a lasting peace, but some new baddie was already creeping up and trying to hide within Duel Monsters games.

Usagi's feelings and visions were often prophetic, sometimes they even told of the past. She'd spoken to Minako about it already, but likely the others had already picked up that Usagi had experienced _something_.

"Rei-chan," Ami finally spoke up. "Have you had any unusual fire readings?"

Rei shook her head just a bit. "Just something about snakes, but we found a rather large snake in the garden. Certainly no strangely-suited men in the rain."

"What if there's another enemy?" Usagi worried aloud in worry as she stared at the Moon Magician card, recalling the battle from the day before. "What if there's another form of Chaos or another jealous queen that didn't get invited to something? What if we don't get our peace we wanted? What if it's all linked to this weird episodic dream I'm having?"

"Episodic dream?" Makoto questioned. That was a very specific phrase, one that didn't seem like Usagi would use often. But there it was, the _something_ that she reasoned Usagi had experienced.

Oops. Usagi hadn't intended to say that. She didn't want to make people worry. She'd already told Minako about it, but the others didn't need to worry too. But that was too late, the cat was already out of the bag. "I keep having this dream that I fell to the earth and met this man. I was definitely Serenity at the time. I don't know what it means yet."

Rei pursed her lips a bit, thinking about the description. "Perhaps this is a memory, one that may tell you more about what's going on."

"I'm wondering if that guy has been reborn into our time, just like we have," Minako wondered. "Maybe you've met him. That would explain the deja vu you're having."

"Sort of how it was with Mamo-chan," Usagi recalled. "I didn't know him at first, but he started feeling familiar even when we still weren't getting along."

"That still leaves the question of what to do with Yugi-kun," Ami pointed out. "What if he is being targeted by this new strange enemy that wants to duel? Domino is pretty far away from Azabu-Juuban. It might be hard to protect him."

"He's a really good duelist," Minako pointed out. "You should've seen the strategies he was using! If they just want to duel, he probably will be okay if we're not able to watch over him."

"What worries me is if they resort to tactics our previous enemies have used," Rei confessed. "I don't think these children's card game battles will protect him."

"Duels," Minako corrected her.

Rei wrinkled her nose at her.

"That's when we'll step in," Usagi nodded with certainty. "We won't let some weird rain-bringing guys in fancy suits harm him or anyone. We're the sailor senshi after all!"

...

Yugi peered at the Pharaoh's spirit floating next to him. He was still soaked, his usually sharp hair dropping backwards as he wrung out his shirt. He'd heard it pretty clearly. Those strange suited people were after someone, probably Atem, but this wasn't their first parade. Plenty of people had been after Atem, and Yugi didn't particularly care as long as he was with his friends and his other self. They'd make it through this just the same as they always did.

"That was pretty wild what you did back there, Yugi," Jounouchi slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Standing right there dueling with a magical girl! Man, I never thought I'd see one up close!"

"Seriously, Jounouchi," Anzu scolded him.

"Not like you weren't shooting daggers into her back or anything," the blond pointed out.

"I wanted to make sure Yugi and Atem were doing okay!" Anzu protested with a huff. She had to bury her seething jealousy somehow, even if she noticed that Atem never once looked at Sailor Moon with any intent other than to teach her about the duel. That Sailor Venus seemed really nice as well.

"Other me was just concerned, that's all," Yugi informed them. "Besides, it's been awhile since any of us had a big duel. It was kind of exciting to see him all fired up about dueling again."

"Yeah, guess it has been awhile, hasn't it?" Honda reasoned. "Last time was a few months ago with that strange shadow memory game."

"You mean that mess that Ring spirit thought up," Jounouchi corrected him. "I'm not really sure that one counts."

"You know, there is that gaming convention coming up soon," Anzu informed them. "Kaiba-kun is holding one in the Tokyo Convention Center, I believe. Why don't you and Atem enter it, Yugi?"

Yugi nodded. "I saw a few fliers at Grampa's shop last week. I've been considering it. I think it'd be super great to duel again on a larger scale." He glanced at the Pharaoh's spirit. He needed to kick Atem out of this rut. Perhaps a duel would be just what he needs to feel alive again. For a brief moment in the rain, Yugi saw that excitement flair up again. "A duel is definitely what we need. I'm already excited for it and it hasn't even started."

"I heard this one you could even cosplay if you wanted," Anzu recalled.

"Kaiba-kun's tournaments always had some gatcha to get to them before," Honda recalled the cards and star chips in the last two tournaments. "What gives this time?"

"I think it's more of a publicity stunt honestly," Anzu admitted. "Something to sell the holo bracelets, since it's happening right in the middle of a gaming convention."

"How typical," Jounouchi commented.

"There's a board game tournament I was thinking of joining," Anzu added. "I could play that while you were dueling, Yugi."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Yugi perked up. "What kind of board game?"

"A dice-based game from Industrial Illusions," Anzu replied.

"I don't want anything came from Pegasus's hands," Jounouchi folded his arms.

"You play Duel Monsters, you idiot," Anzu pointed out. "Besides, I only have two passes, so you can just stay home."

"W-what?!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "This is some kinda conspiracy! Or were you trying to go on some kinda weird gamer date?"

Anzu puffed up. "I'm doing nothing of the sort! I just figured Yugi would like to go!"

Jounouchi snorted. He knew exactly what was up. She wanted to go to a gaming convention with Atem. She wasn't exactly the best at hiding her raging jealousy or her intentions.

"We've been friends forever! It's only natural I invite him," Anzu huffed.

"I'm glad you did, Anzu!" Yugi smiled brightly. "I was starting to worry how I'd get a ticket. I bet they go fast. I'm glad you plan ahead."

Anzu grinned triumphantly.

"Did you bribe Kaiba to get them?" Honda wondered.

"Of course not!" Anzu replied. "I bribed Mokuba. It wasn't hard."

"I bet he wanted to see Other Me to duel at one of Kaiba-kun's tournaments again," Yugi reasoned.

"That's exactly it," Anzu nodded. "I don't think that Kaiba-kun is actually dueling this time, but there is that draw to having a champion in the tournament that could sell a lot of holo-bracelets."

"Sometimes you worry me with how you think," Honda frowned.

Anzu knew exactly what she was doing. She'd noticed Atem had been pretty quiet recently. Something was on his mind, and he wasn't really one to talk about it. Yugi hadn't said anything either, but the way that he seemed to look at someone who wasn't visibly there was a pretty good indication. Something _was_ bothering Atem, so Anzu had to do something about it. That was what friends were for, right? She just had to pose it the right way to get Mokuba to agree to give them passes.

…

Across Tokyo in Domino, the early evening hues had set into the sky, casting dark shadows between the tall buildings. The pair of rain-bringing suited men stood within the alleyways, the black-haired one leaning against the building.

"You'd think finding one kid in the city would be easier," the black-haired one scoffed.

"The Pharaoh's spirit must be hiding," the white-haired one concluded, "much like the princess's."

"But they cannot hide forever," the black-haired one reasoned. "The Pharaoh's spirit is attracted to duels. Those two sailor guardians, however. They may get in our way."

"Then we'll deal with them," the white-haired one nodded. "But first, we must single out that Pharaoh."

The two paused in their conversation, hearing heavy-footed steps approach them. The shadows had obscured most of the visitor's features, his black trench coat blending in with the darkness. The Millennium Ring hung from his neck, swaying slightly with his heavy steps. His white hair starkly contrasted the rest of his attire, falling into his face and partially obscuring a rather sinister expression.

"Targeting the Pharaoh, huh? Tsk tsk tsk," the visitor chided. "No one attacks the Pharaoh but me."

"Who the hell are you?" the black-haired one demanded.

"Look," the white-haired one pointed out. "He bears a Millennium Item. You must know where the Pharaoh is!"

"I do," the visitor grinned nearly ear to ear. "But that's a secret. Now time for your punishment." He cackled madly as the Millennium Ring glowed brightly, light and shadow filling the alleyway. Sounds of screams and shouting echoed out of the small alley, drowned out by the bustle of the nearby shopping district on the next street over.

As the light subsided, the visitor turned, leaving their bodies crumpled in the pile of trash where they belonged.

 **...**

 **Author's ramblings**

Another joint chapter! Quite a bit of a contrast of moods between both sides. A new enemy means a new battle for the senshi, which is depressing considering how much they worked towards making things peaceful. But for the other side, you have Anzu and Yugi that try to keep things positive even when the situation gets crazy.

And I can honestly see Anzu as pretty crafty when she wants something. We all know she wants to make Atem and Yugi happy (and spend some time with them), so a little bribery isn't exactly beneath her.


	7. Convention

Ami didn't exactly tell anyone where she was disappearing to that weekend. No emails, no handwritten notes, no messages on the communicator. She just left and showed up in the Tokyo Convention Center with a convention pass. She had arrived in a blue one-piece loose short dress tied together at the waist with yellow sleeves and a yellow capelet. She had a feather in her hair and mid-calf boots on her feet. She looked like she walked out of a video game, and surprisingly, that was her intent.

While Ami was extraordinarily good at video games, literally able to see the coding for them as she played, tabletop games were another story. They had more statistics, more strategy, more possibility. They weren't code but driven by people who could be somewhat unpredictable. That fascinated her. It got her into chess, but now her newest fascination was TCGs.

She didn't want to admit it to the others, but Duel Monsters was fascinating. The possibilities, the cards, the strategies that went along with different structures of decks. She had built herself a powerful strategy deck, and she wanted to test it at a tournament.

But there was another reason she'd come. Yugi might be there. He was a champion duelist, after all. It only made sense that he might be attracted to the gaming convention as well, perhaps entering the tournament too. If he was targeted by the enemy, they could possibly attack. Past enemies had known to attack large crowds before. She wouldn't put it past these strange rain-bringing suited men.

She slipped into the convention center, flashing her pass at the door. The center was humongous, filled with swaths of different types of gamers. Off to the left was a massive video game center, featuring arcade games and the newest set of home consoles available for play on large screens. Sure, the consoles had intrigued her, but she wasn't here to analyze their updated code and graphics. She was here for other reason, yet that didn't mean she wouldn't come back to them later.

Weaving her way through the crowds, she managed to locate the Duel Monsters trading card booth, not that it was hard with the massive Kaiba Corp logo behind the desk. They were likely sponsoring the tournament to display some sort of new holographic technology. Ami had her holo-bracelet on her wrist, ready to use the new technology, but there could be something on an even bigger scale inside the main arena.

Part of her was admittedly excited to participate in a tournament. The last one she did was a chess tournament that was interrupted by Beruche's attack. This one might be interrupted too, but it might just go smoothly like a normal tournament.

She glanced around. There were quite a number of girls present, something she hadn't quite expected at a gaming tournament, yet their involvement wasn't her main focus. She was trying to see if she could spot Yugi. Usagi had described him as having starfish-shaped hair and being short, neither of which seemed to help her locate him. There were many people with spiked hair and odd shaped hair and all sorts of colors and some were just plain tall and in the way.

Ami thumbed through her cards for a moment, entering the tournament hall. The place was as massive as she expected, practically a coliseum in its own right. Seating stretched from the entrance downward to the center arena in rows by the hundreds. Many of the seats had already been filled, the competitors shuffled off to a specific seating area reserved for them. A massive projection stage was set up along the ring of the arena with two desks, one on either side.

Ami glanced over the crowd. There were sure a lot of duelists, some in cosplay while others seemed to be in casual clothing.

"Welcome to the Tokyo Dome Exhibition League!"

The announcement grabbed her attention. In the center of the arena stood a single man, a long white coat with peculiar silver accents along the collar. It had a sharpness to it, one that caused it to bell out around him as he stood. His hair was a sharp brown, accenting the sharpness of his features and the crispness of his shirt and pants.

"Hey look, it's Kaiba, the president of Kaiba Corp!" one duelist pointed out.

"He looks like he's in high school," another commented.

"Here are the brackets of this tournament!" Kaiba pointed upwards toward the display monitors. Ami found her name pretty quickly in the first bracket. She skimmed over the other brackets, spotting Mutou Yugi listed in the last bracket. So he _was_ here. She glanced over the gathered duelists. She didn't see anyone in crisp blood-red suits, so perhaps this would just be a normal tournament.

The first few brackets went by quickly. Ami destroyed her opponents with her combinations of sending monsters to the graveyard then blowing it up with a Graveyard Bomb. She used her strategies from chess to help her predict possible strategies laid out before her. It was like fighting in battles but with cards instead of magic. She could see why Usagi had come to enjoy it. It was actually pretty fun, and Ami found herself enjoying the game more as the tournament went on.

She wanted more of a challenge however and that challenge soon stood before her in the finals. There he was, the champion Mutou Yugi. She'd watched his strategy throughout the day. He was good, very good, and he knew it. Ami wanted a challenge, someone who could counter her intelligence and strategy. She wanted a good duel that would keep her attention. "Let's have a good, strong duel."

On the other side of the field, both Yugi and Atem had been waiting for her to reach the finals. Her strategy was strong and sharp, using the cards to her advantage. She planned ahead incredibly wisely, as if she could see possibilities of the duel play out before the opponent even moved.

 _"You've been waiting for this opponent all day, Other me,"_ Yugi commented.

"I have," Atem agreed. "She's really good. It'll be a fun challenge after Battle City."

Yugi had reasoned his other half had stayed with him after the Memory World to battle some more, to find something exciting. Atem had a few casual battles with his friends and at the arcade, but nothing where an opponent would actually challenge him. It'd been awhile since either saw a good duel. Yugi wanted to duel her too, but he felt that letting Atem duel her instead might do the spirit some good.

"Let's have a good duel!" Atem called out to her. He cut and shuffled the deck before placing it down on the mat. He drew his hand, looking over his cards. A pretty solid set of cards. De-spell, Feral Imp, Magical Hats, Black Magician, Big Shield Gardna, and a Resurrection card. Not a bad way to start, though after watching Ami duel, he knew that she had cards that could clear the field and alter hands, and she wasn't hesitant to use them.

"I place this card face down and summon Feral Imp to the field," Atem announced. "End turn." He watched Ami on the other side of the field carefully.

Ami looked over her drawn cards. It certainly wasn't enough to take down a champion, but it was somewhat of a start. "I play Graceful Charity. This allows me to draw three cards then discard two." She drew her cards, thumbing through the new selection. There it was, a starter combo.

"I place Fire Princess on the field." Before Ami manifested a young princess clad in red with black hair. She held a staff at her side. The card reminded her of Rei, so she naturally slipped it into her deck. The special effects weren't bad either. "I also play this spell card, Fountain of Life, which gives me 300 life points and directly attacks yours for 500, thanks to Fire Princess's special effect!"

 _"She's direct!"_ Yugi commented, crossing his arms in front of him as Atem's life points blew away.

"I think she's inviting us to play directly," Atem reasoned. His opponent was being more direct than she was in previous rounds. She seemed to simply destroy the other duelists pretty quickly but here, Ami seemed to be enjoying herself, a large grin spanning her features as she ended her turn.

A large grin spanned Atem's features as well. "I think we should play, Aibou, play to win."

 _"Alright, Other me,"_ Yugi smiled. _"Let's give her a final round worth remembering."_

"Draw!" He pulled a card from his deck again. Another magician, this time the Black Magician Girl. "I summon the Black Magician to the field! Attack the Fire Princess with Black Magic Strike!"

Ami shielded her eyes as the Black Magician quickly blew away her monster card. So this was the Black Magician Usagi had mentioned earlier. He certainly had a lot of power, but the he seemed like an ordinary card. Well until he seemed to look over his shoulder at Yugi and nod. She squinted a bit, second guessing that she actually saw that happen.

"I place this card face down and end my turn," Atem concluded.

Ami watched him carefully, not seeing anything else unusual about his side of the field. Perhaps she was imagining the Black Magician acting the way he did. He was just a hologram, a piece of paper projected before them.

"Draw!" There was a card she could use. It went with the theme of her deck. "I summon Water Princess!" Before her stood a glittering princess, long blue robes and blue hair to match. The card reminded her of herself, of Sailor Mercury and her past life before that. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

 _"Another princess?"_ Yugi peered across the field. _"Just how many does she have?"_

"I get the feeling we never saw her full hand before," Atem reasoned.

 _"She may be playing an elemental deck that can manipulate the field,"_ Yugi considered the strategy. _"She's truly trying to get the upper hand in this situation."_

"We'll see how long her fortune lasts," Atem grinned, drawing another card. The Black Luster Soldier, another powerful card now in his hand. He could easily play it and try to wipe out yet another princess card from Ami's field, but there was the worry of a field-manipulating card that she'd placed face down. She also had cards that cleared the opponent's hands. It was tricky to figure out which she had or planned to use.

"I place-" Atem's words were quickly cut off as the lights suddenly cut off in the arena. "What the heck?"

On the opposite side of the field, Ami glanced around. This wasn't a good sign, and she had her worries that something might happen at this tournament. She pulled her Mercury Computer from her bag, flipping it open. Magical energy readings were through the roof. They were here, weren't they? The blood-red-suited men. She summoned her heart crystal to her hand.

As the lights flicked on, the situation revealed itself. The audience, all several hundreds if not thousands staggering towards the playing field as if zombified. Magical mind control, Mercury reasoned. She quickly grabbed her cards, dashing across the field towards Yugi. Her suspicions were right, though she wasn't sure how those strange men Usagi and Minako reported would be possible of such mass mind control. There was more to this. It was a show of power.

She skidded to a halt in front of Yugi, crossing her arms and summoning an orb of water in both hands. Spreading her arms, she offered a single command, "Mercury Aqua Mist!" As mist filled the arena, she grabbed Yugi by the arm. "Gather your deck. We need to get out of here."

 **...**

 **Author's notes:**

While Ami does have some actual TCG cards in her deck, I decided to create for her an elemental princess deck that would suit her play style and make her a good strategic challenge for Atem. But it seems they won't complete this duel just yet. Unfortunate.


	8. Spacial bubble

Atem barely had enough time to gather all the cards before Mercury had pulled him away, barely avoiding being overrun by the controlled crowd. They ducked into the arena entryway and through a narrow hallway, following signs for the exit. "What's going on? Who are you?"

"My name is Sailor Mercury," she replied. "I'm a friend of Sailor Moon. She suspected you might be targeted by these strange men in blood-red suits. We don't quite know why yet."

 _"They're getting closer, Other me!"_ Yugi exclaimed, able to look over Atem's shoulder while he was running. _"What about Mizuno-san?!"_

"What about Mizuno-san?" Atem echoed his partner's question.

"She managed to duck through the other tunnels in the dark," Mercury made up a story. It was believable enough. "She'll be alright. It's you they seem to be after."

Mercury lead him down the hallway, using her computer as a guide. She managed to pull up blueprints for the tunnels, suddenly veering off to the left. "This way. We can reach the outer exit from here." She stopped suddenly as the next hall was flooded with more controlled attendees. Even the rest of the convention-goers were mind controlled. How was this possible? This was more magic than the sailor guardians had encountered before.

She glanced at Yugi. Why did they want to find him so badly? What was it about him that this new enemy found so tantalizing they had to send an entire convention after him.

Yugi grabbed his partner's arm tightly. _"Don't use anything against them! They're just being controlled like Jounouchi-kun once was!"_

 _I'm not_ , Atem spoke to Yugi alone. _But what can we do, Aibou? Anzu's likely among them. We can't leave them like this._

Tapping on her earring, a visor spanned across her face displaying various information about the area, where they were, and what magical energies were floating around. This wasn't good. It almost looked like the whole convention center had been shrouded in some sort of dark magical energy. So that's how they did it. It was an area affect.

Grabbing Yugi with one hand, Mercury raised the other high above her head. "Hyperspacial Sphere Generate!" From her hand grew a blue circle, one that grew larger until it encompassed both her and Yugi then disappeared. The space around them grew distorted, turning into colors of blue and black before landing them both onto some sort of solid surface.

"Where are we?" Atem looked around.

"Within a protective sphere existing parallel to our world," Mercury explained. "I can't hold this space forever, so we'll-" She cut herself off when she saw a second blip on her visor. There was someone else here, someone she didn't invite into this space. "Watch out, we're not alone!" She whipped around, crossing her arms for an attack, but paused, staring wide-eyed. Behind Yugi stood a reflection, another Yugi.

"Don't attack!" Atem spread out his arms. "It's not what you think."

 _"Can she see me?"_ Yugi stared over Atem's shoulder at Mercury.

Atem glanced over his shoulder. "I think so."

 _"Let me talk to her."_ Yugi tapped his partner on the shoulder. Atem nodded and the two seemed to swap positions.

"What is going on here?" Mercury stared at the two. Even her readings couldn't explain what she just saw. "Just what _are_ you?"

"Look I can explain," Yugi held his hands up, almost as if to quell an attack. Mercury had made no move against them since Atem had stopped her. "My name is Yugi, though you already know that. His name is actually Atem."

"Atem?" Mercury echoed the name. "That sounds almost Egyptian."

"It is," Yugi nodded. "It's a really long story, but after I solved this puzzle," he held up the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck, "I became his host. He's not bad or anything. He's more like another me."

"A reflection?" Mercury stared over Yugi's shoulder, seeing Atem standing behind him. While Yugi had previously seemed to hide behind Atem just a bit, Atem himself was standing just off to the side, watching Mercury silently.

Yugi shook his head. "He's the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh. This sort of thing has happened before, Mercury-san, though not quite in the same way. I can't say we've fought off hoards of mind controlled people before. It's always shadow duels and duels that involve high stakes that could destroy either one of us. They always want to get to Atem."

Mercury rubbed her forehead. Usagi was right, for once. Something was different about Yugi though there was no way she would've guessed it was _this_. "This is a lot to take in, but we'll need to deal with the present troubles first. This sort of mind control magic, we've seen it before but nothing to this extent. It's something surrounding the convention center. I've called the other guardians to help."

"Please don't tell them," Yugi pleaded, "don't tell them that there are actually two of us."

 _"They seem to want to help us, Aibou,"_ Atem pointed out. Before, he might've objected, but this threat was more than shadow games and duels. This was something greater that might involve whatever deja vu he'd been experiencing lately.

"I don't want it getting back to Usagi-san," Yugi confessed. "Our group of friends understand, but what would someone who hasn't been through everything think? We might scare her off. We're just becoming friends..."

 _"Aibou,"_ Atem frowned.

The two spoke more like partners than a spirit and a host. They were an unusual duo of souls in one body, something that she could understand would be coveted by evil. She'd dealt with enough incarnations of Chaos trying to obtain the Silver Crystal. Evil was always after something it couldn't attain. "Usagi-chan can handle more than you think," Mercury offered. "She may be shocked, but she'll understand. That's just the sort of person she is."

Yugi wrinkled his nose a bit. He was still worried. "Still… I'm not even sure how to explain this to her. It was hard enough to explain it to our friends. Hard enough for me to accept at first."

" _But they did,_ " Atem pointed out.

"In time," Yugi nodded. "But we also went through all of this together over time."

"Perhaps for now, we'll just keep it between ourselves until the time seems right," Mercury suggested. "That way you two can carry on with your duels and competitions and friendships. When the time is right, you can tell her."

Yugi nodded some more. "We'll figure a way to tell her."

 _"What about these red-suited men until then?"_ Atem worried. _"Aibou could be hurt."_

"We're not really sure about them yet," Mercury shook her head. "We thought the red-suited men just wanted to duel to find two people, dubbed him and her. You seem to be the him, but we don't know who 'her' is yet. However it's possible there's more at play here, magical forces that we can fight so you'll be protected. We'll do everything we can to keep you safe in magical battles."

Yugi frowned some more. "I don't want to drag Usagi-san into this either."

"You can leave the protecting to us. We'll keep her safe." She thought for a moment, before handing Yugi a small device. "You can contact me this way if you ever find yourself in a bind. We don't know which one of you they're after, so we'll do what we can to protect you both."

Atem stayed silent, dwelling over the situation and the dreams. He didn't normally dream. He was just a spirit, a soul residing in the same body as Yugi. But that dream was incredibly real, like a memory. _"If they're after me, they might be after someone I had encountered back in Ancient Egypt, perhaps a reincarnation. It wouldn't be the first time that reincarnations were involved."_

"A reincarnation?" Mercury was familiar with the idea, but she hadn't expected Atem to have encountered them as well.

" _A woman keeps appearing in my dreams,"_ Atem admitted. " _She may be the 'her' these men are after. She could be a reincarnation as well."_

Mercury hadn't expected that information. "Do you know what she looked like?"

Atem shook his head. _"Just faded memories."_

"Hopefully we can find this 'her' before she is targeted too," Mercury nodded. "For now, we need to exit this space. It's beginning to collapse." Taking Yugi's wrist in her hand, she rose her hand once again. "Hyperspactial Sphere Collapse!"

Yugi blinked as they were returned to the outside world. They stood outside the convention center, flanked by several of the senshi, including Moon and Venus.

"Are you both alright?" Moon worried. "We came as soon as we received your call, Mercury."

"We're fine," Mercury nodded, "but the entire convention center is being shrouded by a massive bubble of magics."

"So that's what I'm sensing," Mars noted. She peered at Yugi for a moment. So this was the boy that Usagi had encountered. There was something about him that she sensed, like there was some sort of magical aura about him. She could understand why Usagi had mentioned something mystical about him. Perhaps the enemy was after this mystical aura.

Mercury turned to the group. "Sailor Moon, do you think you can purify the bubble?"

Moon summoned the Eternal Tiare to her hand. It had been some time since she had purified anything, but it wasn't like she'd lost the ability. It was part of her bond with the Silver Crystal. "Got it." Bending at her knees, she leapt high into the air surrounded by an aura of light. At her command, light burst forth from the Tiare, circling out in waves of light that rained specs of light down below.

The doors to the convention center burst open, dozens of mind controlled people staggered out. A gentle rain began to fall down like stars falling from the sky. It was a warm light that quickly enveloped the enchanted people. As the light touched them they stopped, rubbing their faces in confusion. The cosplayers and gamers began to exchange confused glances before looking upwards to find the source of the light.

"Look, it's Sailor Moon up in the sky!"

"Were we being controlled? Did she save us?"

Sailor Moon had more power than Atem had realized. It was magic filled with light and hope, purifying the mind-controlled people almost instantly. As he peered up at her in the sky, he wondered if she was the 'her' these suited-men were looking for. Or perhaps she was the 'her' in his dream. It was too hard to tell at this point, but somehow these sailor guardians may be linked.

 **...**

 **Author's notes:**

So Ami's the first to learn of Atem and Yugi inhabit one body, and only by accident. She's probably the one who could handle best the news that Usagi's new friend is a host to a 3000 year old dead pharaoh's spirit that may be the target of the blood-suited men. What a mess they're in now.

And I've had a few comments about my names of cards. Black Magician and Resurrection (Monster Reborn) are actually correct. Since the story is based off the Japanese version, I've chosen to use many of the Japanese named cards.

Some of the cards that appear later in the story also do not have an English name yet, so the Japanese names just felt natural. For the most part, I stick to this naming convention. There might be one here and there I kept the English name just to be more recognizable. Good observations though!


	9. Kaiba Land

_"Do you really think the priests can find a way back to the Moon?" The girl was concerned that she may never make it home. How everyone would worry about her. She'd be in so much trouble, but what if something worse happened? What if it incited some kind of war between the Earth and the Moon? She didn't want that to happen. She enjoyed looking out at the blue and green marble in the sky._

 _"If anyone can find a way, they'll know." The man had taken her hand, guiding her to a large temple made of golden-colored stone that seemed to stretch impossibly high. It looked like the towers that framed the palace in the Moon Kingdom, just a different color._

 _Before them stood a priest. He was tall, dressed in blue and white with accents of gold. His face was obscured, and she couldn't make out any distinct features. He bowed respectfully. "What can I do for you today, Pharaoh?"_

...

Usagi rubbed at her face. The man in her dreams was a pharaoh? She rolled out of bed, opening her laptop. Not that she really knew how to use it. She managed to click a bit, finding a web browser. _Pharaoh pharaoh..._ A quick search brought up a swath of articles. She clicked the first one. _A pharaoh was the leader of Ancient Egypt, believed by the people to be the embodiment of the sun god Ra._

So this person who was helping her was a pharaoh. This was all confusing. She shook her head, pushing some buttons on the computer until one of them turned the thing off, then digging in her closet. It had been a few days since the sailor guardians rescued the convention center. She found it only a bit surprising that Ami had attended the tournament in the convention center. Despite Ami's vehement denial she enjoyed the game, Usagi was certain that Ami actually enjoyed it.

And that brought about today's meeting. It was Sunday, their day off. Yugi and company invited Usagi and her friends out to a theme park based around Duel Monsters. It sounded like so much fun. A theme park, cards, and friends!

She pulled on a pink dress over a white shirt with puffed sleeves, shoving her deck into her purse and throwing it over her shoulder. Luna peered out the door as she left. Usagi sure had been social lately, but it was good to see her in high spirits even at the face of a new, bizarre enemy. The moon cat padded down the stairs, heading out the door after her but travelling in the opposite direction towards Rei's temple.

Usagi soon entered the subway station, meeting Ami there, and the two traveled to Domino's theme park district. She waved at the others, who had already gathered near the gate of the park. KAIBA LAND, the sign read.

"I don't get it," Rei frowned. "Why is there a theme park after these children's card games?"

"Duel Monsters!" Minako corrected her.

"Right," Rei shrugged. She just didn't see the appeal. Perhaps Usagi's new friends would be more reasonable, though she had her doubts. They seemed all obsessed with this card game. It seemed like a waste of money. And arrived they did, Yugi with several of his friends. Rei was thankful that one of them was a girl, at least.

Usagi waved them over excitedly. "Yugi-kun! Over here!"

He lit up, waving back. "Hey, Usagi-san, good to see you and your friends made it." He smiled at the friends gathered. "This is Anzu, Jounouchi-kun, Honda-kun, and Bakura-kun," he introduced his party.

Usagi smiled at each one. "This is Ami-chan, Minako-chan, Mako-chan, and moping back there is Rei-chan."

"I'm not moping," Rei folded her arms. She wasn't fond of theme parks, not after the last time they went to a carnival and she found herself subject to the illusions of the Dead Moon Circus. This was different. Maybe. Probably not. It still wouldn't be fun.

"Aaaalright! Let's go have some fun!" Jounouchi cheered, taking off towards the gate with Honda.

"Yeah!" Minako cheered, following after them.

Usagi giggled, grabbing Rei by the wrist. "Come on, Rei-chan, let's try to have some fun!"

Anzu watched them all scoot into the theme park excitedly, noticing how very pretty all Usagi's friends were. She wasn't used to being around so many girls especially pretty ones, but at least Yugi didn't seem to be looking at them. Jounouchi on the other hand…..

"I want to ride the coaster!" Usagi proclaimed like a child.

"It's really fast here," Yugi pointed out. "It's a lot of fun!"

"Aren't you afraid of the roller coaster?" Minako teased.

"You're supposed to be scared!" Usagi protested. "Don't tell me you're too afraid to go, Mi-na-ko-cha~n!"

"As if," Minako scoffed. "The goddess of love doesn't fear roller coasters! Let's go! Who's with me!"

Rei watched most of them scamper off excitedly towards the roller coaster. She folded her arms again. This was ridiculous. She was only here to ensure the red-suited weirdos didn't show up. All of them were supposed to be doing that, actually, but even Ami seemed entranced by the lure of the amusement park. But Rei still wasn't amused.

"You don't seem like you want to be here, Rei-san, was it?"

Rei glanced over, finding the one introduced as Anzu staying behind along with the somewhat shy white-haired kid named Bakura. "I'm not fond of theme parks. I just want to see Usagi-chan happy."

"Well why don't we do something more to our liking that doesn't involve roller coasters?" Anzu suggested. While she was suspicious of Usagi's pretty friends, she wasn't the sort to go jump on a coaster. She wasn't certain she could enjoy a roller coaster after the madness that was DEATH-T. She wasn't sure how any of them could, but they were all just big children. They did like this place. "Come along with us, Bakura-kun."

Rei's interest piqued a little. "What sort of thing did you have in mind?"

"We could always play some of the carnival games," Bakura suggested.

"They're rigged," Anzu pointed out sharply.

"Ah well," he rubbed the back of his head. "It's still fun to try sometimes. There are shows, too. Maybe the Ferris wheel? The duel arena?"

Anzu pulled out the park map. She'd been here a few times, but something always seemed to get in the way. Perhaps they could actually have some fun for once. Having some girl friends instead of just guy friends wouldn't be a bad idea. Bakura was close sometimes, but not quite. "There's a shop near the roller coaster," Anzu suggested. She peered at Yugi and the rest of the group. He seemed more focused on rides and games than how short Minako's skirt was.

Rei paused before nodding. "I could go for that." Though as she approached, she doubted this place was anything but a tourist trap for those obsessed with those children's card games or whatever. "Is there anything _without_ that dragon on it?"

"Kaiba-kun is rather obsessed with the Blue Eyes White Dragon," Anzu rolled her eyes.

Rei arched an eyebrow. "You speak as if you know him."

"He's in our class," Bakura answered. "He's the president of Kaiba Corp. He hosts tournaments as well as created this theme park for people to enjoy."

"He's an ass," Anzu frowned.

"He's not that bad," Bakura protested.

"He seems full of himself," Rei commented, frowning at the blue eyes white hats. She glanced to the crowd, noticing people wearing the hats and something of a brown fluff with yellow eyes. What was that thing? "Or just obsessed."

"You don't know the half of it," Anzu agreed. Kaiba was very obsessive in far too many ways. Beating Yugi, winning, Blue Eyes White Dragon, winning, his brother, more winning. "Maybe there's something less dragons around here." She peered around, spotting a nearby shop filled with other trinkets and goodies. "Let's try there."

The next shop was less blue eyes and more trinkets. Kuriboh barrettes, flowers and bows, simple things that were obviously still a tourist trap but what did Rei really expect from this place? She picked up one of the flowers. At least some of the things here looked pretty.

"What do you like to do, Rei-san?" Anzu asked, admiring the Kuriboh barrettes. They sure were cute, though she wasn't really one to wear barrettes. Perhaps she could get a keychain to go on her school bag.

"I'm a shrine maiden at my grandfather's shrine," Rei replied, turning the flower over in her hands. It seemed like something Usagi would wear in her hair. She certainly wore flowers in her hair during the Silver Millennium.

"I don't think I've ever chatted with a shrine maiden before," Anzu remarked, thumbing through the keychains to find a fuzzy little Kuriboh. She wondered if Yugi would like it. No, he definitely would. He loved that card. "Did you meet Usagi-san and her friends there?"

"Kind of like that," Rei replied, picking up another flower. "She helped me when I really needed it, but that's Usagi-chan for you. A heart the size of the world."

"I can see why she gets along with Yugi so well," Anzu admitted. "He's got a pretty big heart, too. Two peas in a pod, it seems."

"Perhaps that's good for both of them," Rei noted, placing one of the flowers back, choosing the larger one instead. She still didn't know what flowers had to do with the rest of the theme park, but they had to lure in the non-gaming tourists somehow.

She paused, glancing over her shoulder. Something caught her attention, her sixth sense screaming out in the back of her mind. Perhaps Ami was right in reasoning the blood red-suited adults way too old to be taking over the world with children's card games would be here after all. According to Ami's analysis, they could appear anywhere, targeting Yugi and attempting to find this 'her' they sought. If they mind controlled an entire theme park, this could get dangerous.

But as she turned, no one was there. That was the strange part. She knew her senses weren't off, but there was still no one matching the description nearby. But there was also someone else noticeably absent. "Wasn't that other guy with us. Bakura-san?"

Anzu looked back behind them as well with a bit of a sigh. "He has a bad habit of wandering off. Let's get these trinkets and go look for him."

Rei stared at the flower. With her sixth sense screaming at her, now wasn't the time to think about frivolous things, but she was certain Usagi would like this. "It's an excuse to not ride the rides with the others. Let's make sure he hasn't gotten lost." Shoving the purchased flower into her bag, she exited the store with Anzu.

Anzu scoured over the map. "He's likely at the carnival games or duel arena. We should try there first."

This would give her a chance to search the park for anything out of the ordinary and alert the others. For now, they had a mission to find a white-haired kid who had a bad habit of wandering. "As long as we don't have to play children's card games," Rei flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Anzu laughed, amused at Rei's name for Duel Monsters. "Only if you want to."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

I honestly think Rei and Anzu could become good friends. They both have a cool persona with a hot temper and a passion to protect their friends. Just one is boy crazy and the other definitely is not.


	10. Prizes

"I don't think I've ever heard someone scream so loud!" Jounouchi cackled. "You're hilarious, Usagi!"

"It was really fast!" Usagi exclaimed. "I thought I was going to fly out of my seat!"

"You were so scared, Usagi-chan!" Minako teased.

"So were you," Usagi stuck her tongue out at her. "Anyway, what should we do next?"

"Why don't we play some carnival games," Yugi suggested.

"You know those are rigged," Ami pointed out. "They're made so you lose."

"That sounds like a challenge, doesn't it, Yugi?" Jounouchi grinned.

"I'd say it was," Yugi agreed. "I can't be the king of games if I can't win a carnival game."

"I want a prize!" Usagi whined.

"I'll get you something good," Makoto wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "No rigging can stop me at a game of strength."

"You're the best, Mako-chan!" Usagi lit up.

The row of games was only a short walk away, filled with colorful booths and games with lights meant to attract people closer. There were many types of games including simple things like throwing rings over bottles and knocking things over with a baseball. There were also the strength game with a ridiculously oversized hammer.

"There's a game with plushies over there," Yugi pointed out. "Look, it's a Black Magician Girl plush! I bet Anzu would like one."

"You gonna win it for her?" Jounouchi watched the players repeatedly fail the game. The rings bounced off the bottles far to easily. Ami was definitely right. The games were rigged. But if anyone could win it, it was Yugi. "You finally gonna ask her out, eh, Yugi?"

"J-Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi protested, digging in his pockets for some yen for the games.

Jounouchi wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder. "That plush would be perfect to do that, you know."

"J-jounouchi-kun!" Yugi flushed as he attempted to wriggle free of his grip and scamper off towards the games.

Ami watched Yugi, standing in the back with Honda and Jounouchi as Makoto and Usagi went off to play strength games. Yugi's movements were subtle, but there was this sudden moment of confidence seemed to indicate the two had shifted again. It was hard to notice, especially not knowing either well. They looked identical, their voices were nearly the same. But judging by their conversation in the Hyperspatial Sphere, Atem definitely seemed like the more confident one. The Yugi standing before her was standing much taller, not slouching at all.

"He's going to drop me on a date with Anzu again, isn't he?" Atem muttered mostly to himself.

"I know you like her, Yugi," Jounouchi leaned on the pharaoh, knowing full well which one was in control. "Just go ahead and win the plush."

 _"Come on, Other me! Consider it a challenge!"_ Yugi cheered the pharaoh on.

Atem frowned. It was really hard to say no with both of them egging him on. "Alright, alright. One little carnival game won't beat me." He only had three rings in his hand, the amount he could get with a 500 yen coin. _Overpriced_ , he thought to himself, but that was the gimmick, wasn't it?

He watched the other players toss the rings haphazardly. Their aim was terrible, no technique at all. It didn't take him long to formulate a few ideas to try. He only had three rings so he had to make it count. He held the first ring in his hand, tossing it more like a Frisbee across the jars. It collided with the jars, bounced several times until it careened straight off the collection of jars.

Atem pursed his lips. He wasn't going to be defeated by a ring and a bunch of jars. The second ring nearly rounded one of the jars but bounced off and slipped between the jars, getting stuck there.

"Come on, Yugi," Honda encouraged him.

Ami stayed silent, watching his movements closely. The two souls in one body really did work together symbiotically. It was an interesting relationship Yugi and Atem had. They were close friends, much like she was close with Usagi, but perhaps just a bit closer since they shared one form. She could imagine that Yugi was standing behind Atem, encouraging him.

Sure enough, as Atem tossed the last and final ring, its path sailed true. It had the right arch and curve to get the height it needed without too much that the impact would cause it to fly off the bottle.

"We have a winner!" the booth manager announced, handing Yugi a Black Magician Girl plush. It was pretty sizeable, easily enough to be a small pillow. He wasn't quite sure how he'd actually get it home. Yugi returned to control, smiling brightly.

"Good job, Yugi!" Jounouchi congratulated him. "I knew no carnival game could defeat you! Even one made by Kaiba."

"He's not that bad," Yugi protested. "He does have some good aspects."

"Yeah, right," Jounouchi dismissed the idea. He had choice words about Kaiba that he chose to keep to himself for once. He quickly turning his attention to the strength game nearby with the bell ringing wildly. "That woman is strong."

"Makoto-chan is very strong," Ami agreed. "I'm honestly not surprised she could win at the game." She saw Usagi jumping up and down with the large blue eyes white dragon plush pillow. Makoto looked back to the group and flexed.

"Why don't we get something to eat," Yugi suggested, peeking out behind the large plush. "I think I saw a funnel cake stand nearby."

"I'll go help get some funnel cakes," Ami offered quickly.

"We can talk duels!" Yugi smiled brightly, handing the giant plush off to Honda for safe keeping. "We never did finish our duel, Mizuno-san. We can talk about a rematch sometime!"

Ami nodded. "I'd like that." It was hard to completely hide that she liked Duel Monsters, but she could keep that under wraps just a little. She more wanted to keep an eye on Yugi. He was being targeted, and right now he just seemed to want to enjoy an outing. He was a bit like Usagi, trying to stay happy even when enemies were threatening to destroy that happiness.

"You know, it was quite enjoyable to duel you at the convention, even what little of a duel we had," Yugi confessed, speaking for Atem. "I was pretty surprised you to learn you were Usagi-san's friend, but I'm glad. That means we can be friends and duel again."

"You truly have a love of games," Ami observed.

"I do!" Yugi nodded. "I've made all my friends through them. Though she doesn't always admit it, Anzu is pretty good at games too. She doesn't play Duel Monsters much, but we played a lot of other games together."

"We've always been united by video games," Ami confessed. "When I first met Usagi-chan, she took me to the arcade. We always seem to gather there." It was different reasons at first, mostly that their secret base was beneath the arcade, but they still seemed to return there even after it was destroyed. "I've had a fondness for table-top games as well. There's so much strategy to them."

"There really is," Yugi agreed. "So many cards with so many possibilities and strategies. It's really fun to build the decks and try to predict what an opponent may do. But you, Mizuno-san. You're unpredictable. That makes dueling you fun."

"We'll have to duel again," Ami nodded. "Even the small time we dueled, I could tell you could rival me in strategy. I want to see who would win." She paused as they approached the funnel cake stand, a reddish color catching her eye. She turned slightly, finding someone walking past, a tall woman in a blood-red suit. They _were_ here.

 **...**

 **Author's notes**

Paaaaardon the delay! I've been on vacation then got sick so writing just wasn't happening.

So Ami, being the strategist she is, is trying to protect Yugi without being obvious. Let's see how this goes.


	11. Red-suited

She saw her, a woman in a blood-red suit. Ami only recalled Usagi and Minako describing men, but the resemblance was uncanny, down to the color of the suit and the peculiarly slicked back hair. The woman didn't seem to notice Yugi, but she was certainly prowling, perhaps looking for the mysterious 'her' as well.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence.

"We should try another stand," Yugi suggested suddenly. "I think I saw another down that way, Mizuno-san." He grabbed her wrist, heading off down the opposite direction of where the woman in the blood-red suit had gone. He recalled Mercury's warning that the people in red suits may be after him. He didn't want this to ruin their fun day out.

"Sure," Ami agreed without questioning. She reasoned he had spotted the woman as well. "Let's find the best stand we can find."

They rounded the corner in search of a second stand. Ami recalled seeing another as they had traveled towards the coaster. Surely routing the woman would let them enjoy a fun day. Unfortunately that plan would be thwarted by spotting another in a blood-red suit who had spotted them. She turned to them summoning a tall, skinny staff to her hand, one end looking like a two-pronged fork while the other seemed to tilt like a crooked T.

Ami quickly grabbed Yugi, yanking him back into the alleyway as the woman fired off a blast of magical energy.

 _"Why are they here too?!"_ Yugi panicked. _"Why can't they just let us enjoy a fun day at Kaiba Land?"_

Atem shook his head, pressing against the wall. "Are you alright, Mizuno-san?"

"I should ask you the same, Yugi-san," Ami replied, pressing against the wall. She couldn't transform right now. Yugi would know her civilian identity, but at the same time if she didn't, this suited woman could easily take them both down. She still didn't know why they were after Yugi or Atem, just that both of them would be in danger. And if they fell, Usagi would cry.

If only she could retrieve her Mercury super computer, she could navigate a way out and back to safety.

"We need to find a way to safety." Not that Atem was exactly how to do this. It seemed easier before when he could just battle his way out or use a shadow game to gain the advantage. He had to ensure Ami's safety first without revealing his shadowy nature.

 _"We should call Mercury,"_ Yugi urged.

 _We'll find a way to do this,_ Atem refused.

 _"These strange people in red suits could really hurt Mizuno-san!"_ Yugi protested. _"You wanted to trust her before! Why not now?"_

 _We don't even know where she is,_ Atem countered.

Yugi grabbed at the pharaoh's arm. _"Call her, Other me! That other suited lady has caught up! Mizuno-san could get hurt!"_

Atem seemed to be fighting with himself for a moment, his own pride getting the better of him. Yugi was right, though. Mercury did want to help them, to find out why these people were targeting both him and Yugi, and to locate the mysterious 'her' that was also their target. Atem simply didn't want to admit he couldn't handle it this time.

He shoved his hand in his pocket anyway, conceding only a little to Yugi's pleas to protect Ami. His fingers found the communication device Mercury had given them, fiddling with the buttons until something seemed to happen.

Ami's purse began beeping.

Both Atem and Yugi stared at Ami, who stared surprised back at them. "Mizuno-san. are you-" Atem cut himself off, pulling Ami down and avoiding a blast aimed for the two of them.

"I probably should've thought that through more," Ami confessed, digging into her bag and quieting the Mercury Supercomputer. It was a rare misstep on her part, but she hadn't expected to be caught in this sort of situation. Her fingers flew over the keys, analyzing the magics and the pathways in the local area. "There's a small auxiliary passage in front of us behind that partially concealed door. We can duck in there. We need to draw these two away from the park goers."

 _"Mizuno-san is... Sailor Mercury?"_ Yugi stared at Ami.

"Now's not the time to stare, Aibou," Atem chided, heading with Ami towards the auxiliary door. Their path was quickly cut off by a third red-suited woman exiting the door they had hoped to use to escape.

"Well, well, so we finally find you, Pharaoh," the third woman smirked.

Ami and Atem both backed up, their backs quite literally against the wall. Transforming into Mercury wouldn't do them much good against three of them. Her attacks were mostly there to manipulate the situation, to change the battlefield in their favor. Taking out three strangely-suited women wasn't exactly something her magic was equipped to do.

"Do you have your deck with you, Mizuno-san?" Atem asked her quietly.

Ami nodded, tapping her purse. "I do but what does that have to do with anything?" She debated on transforming once again, to cloud the area again with mists and ice to allow for their escape, but it still wasn't in their favor. She knew the suited people did duel, but this seemed like a sudden suggestion from Atem. Did he know something she didn't?

"Let me show you my kind of magic," Atem grinned. A colorful eye appeared on his forehead, spanning much of his features beneath his hair.

Ami recognized the symbol as the Eye of Horus, a symbol of protection and royal power. So Usagi _had_ seen an eye on his head when they fought the strange rain-bringing suited men. It made sense, given that Atem was the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh, but she only knew about the Eye in context of Egyptology, not in any sense of magic. There were texts that referenced magics and magicians, but nothing that actually said what the magic was.

She recalled a recent exhibit showing unearthed and displayed in the Domino Museum, showing an ancient pharaoh engaged in some kind of battle with unusual creatures, but she had missed the exhibit due to the mess that Chaos had created with Shadow Galactica and the Galaxy Cauldron. She glanced at Atem. Could this be somehow related?

"Since you know who I am," Atem continued, a broad grin spanning his features. "Why don't we play a shadow game." Darkness spread from his feet, encompassing the alleyway and obscuring them from the sight of other park-goers. The darkness rose up, covering the walls too. "A shadow game is one that shows the true self of the players. And since you all like Duel Monsters so much, why don't we play a match? But if you lose, you'll have to play a penalty game."

The blood-suited woman at the doorway snorted derisively. "A shadow game? Do you hear what this spirit is trying to pull?"

"He must think he can actually _win_ a shadow game," the one to the right scoffed.

"Better for us," the one to the left mused. "A defeated pharaoh is still a pharaoh."

Atem was rather unfazed by the insults and laughing. "You think you have it all figured out." Instead he leaned forward slightly, the shadows dancing off his face as he reached for his deck. "You truly have no idea who you're messing with."

...

Across the park, another alley was also doused in shadows and darkness. The man in the blood-red suit stumbled backwards away from the white-haired kid in a sweater, the Millennium Ring around his neck glowing menacingly as it cast eerie shadows on the kid's face.

"You suited idiots just don't learn," he threatened. "Come after the Pharaoh and I'll cast you into the Shadow Realm. The Pharaoh is _mine_."

"You think you can threaten me in that campy sweater of yours?!" the suited man stood up, straightening out his jacket.

He couldn't deny the sweater was terribly campy, but his host self was rather fond of it. He'd let his host wear it as long as the shadow could still exist for just a bit longer. The Ring probably should be in the Pharaoh's possession but the host was far too fond of it. That let the shadow play a bit longer. Perhaps for the better with these goons after the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was _his_ prey, not theirs.

"Only _I_ can kill the pharaoh!" he proclaimed, jabbing a finger at the suited man. It was his old self shining through again, the remnant of the past that seemed to have awoken a bit more after the Memory World. Tormenting the Pharaoh was just too much fun, but only _he_ was allowed to do it. These suited goons just got in the way.

Shadows began to manifest from his body, almost spirit-like in origin as they traced along the ground and up the walls. "It's time to walk among the dead in the Shadow Realm!" Shadows burst forth, along with a sudden flash of light, muffling any screams from the suited man.

He walked from the alley, rubbing a hand through his mop of white messy hair. His brown eyes focused on the sidewalk and the people around him. "How did I get here?" Bakura glanced around. He was all the way over by the performance stages but last he remembered, he was near the roller coasters.

He sighed, then shrugged. "I should go find Anzu-chan and Rei-san. They might be worried." He trekked off towards where he last remembered seeing them, unaware of what had just happened.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

One day I"ll figure out a regular update schedule again. /shrug

Anyway, looks like Ami, Atem, and Yugi all know each others' secrets now. I considered for awhile how this would happen given that Ami thinks of nearly every possible outcome, but one cannot think of _every_ outcome. People are far too unpredictable. So here we are.

And next week we get a real freakin' shadow game. About damn time we got one, right?


	12. Shadow Game

"Let's play a Shadow Game, a game that shows the true selves of the players," Atem offered with a smirk spanning his features. "But if you lose, you'll have to play a Penalty Game."

"As if we'll lose," red-suited woman Number 3 by the door scoffed. "And what if you lose?"

"I don't think that'll be happening," Atem proclaimed confidently.

"Three against two clearly gives us the advantage," Number 3 pointed out.

 _A game which showed the true self of players._ Ami picked up on the careful wording. Atem was intelligent. He was giving her hints that this wouldn't be an ordinary duel. As if the shadows surrounding the alleyway weren't enough of an indication.

"There's one extra rule to this duel," Atem added. "Don't cheat."

Ami glanced at Atem as she shuffled her deck. That was a very specific directive, one that likely would come into play, she reasoned. Good thing she had no intention of ever cheating. It never crossed her mind. She drew her cards into her hands just like the rest. She nearly lost her composure. Her best cards had come to her hand almost immediately. The Fire Princess, the Water Princess, even several cards that would destroy her opponents' hands. She glanced at Atem who seemed to have a permanent grin plastered on his face. For a moment, she thought she could see a shadow of Yugi standing behind him.

 _"It's been awhile since you've done a shadow game, even before I realized you were here,"_ Yugi commented.

 _It has, hasn't it?_ Atem mused. _We need to let them know we're not victims and to stop them before they find this 'her', the silvery woman from my dreams. I'm certain that's the 'her' they're after._

 _We still have no idea who the silvery woman is,_ Yugi recalled

 _We don't,_ Atem agreed. _But we'll find her eventually._ Fate was funny like that. If they crossed paths in the past, there was a high chance they'd cross again in the present and hopefully before the redsuited menaces.

Atem glanced at his cards. The effects of the Shadow Game were in play, allowing him to draw cards that spoke to his heart. "I'll start. I summon the Black Magician to the field."

"Black Magician?!" Number 1 on the left hissed. "You're cheating!"

Atem brandished a finger at her. "Tsk tsk. Do you not remember, this is a Shadow Game? Cheating is not allowed."

"Impossible!" Number 2 on the right hissed.

Atem turned back to the Black Magician. His holographic bracelet wasn't even glowing, no holographic technology at play here. The Black Magician seemed more like a person here, one who turned around just enough to smile at him. "Looks like we get to fight alongside each other again, old friend."

Ami turned to him. "Old friend?"

"It's a long story," Atem replied.

"Everything is a long story with you," Ami frowned. "One day, we'll need to sit down and talk about all this."

"One day." He nodded, turning back to the playing field. "I place this card face down and end my turn," Atem concluded. "Mizuno-san?"

Ami nodded, thumbing through her cards. She drew another card at the start of her turn, nearly losing her composure again. Another elemental princess. If she were to play with her heart, she would choose the one that spoke to her most. Atem did say this was a battle that would show one's true heart. And that card would be, "I play the Water Princess, and place this card face down. End turn."

The Water Princess stood before her, not looking like the card as much as usual but instead more of a reflection of how she herself looked during the Silver Millennium. Long flowing blue dress, ribbon tied around her neck, her short wavy hair that looked like the flow of water. She stared at it, her brow furrowed a bit before staring back at her hand. Would the other princesses reflect this too?

The Black Magician turned, greeting the Water Princess. She smiled in return to him as if they'd met before.

"Seems we'll _definitely_ want to have that talk after all, Mizuno-san," Atem agreed.

"My turn!" Number 2 proclaimed. "No, no, this can't be right! You're cheating somehow, Pharaoh!" She angrily jabbed a finger at him.

"Remember, no cheating," Atem reminded her. "That's the number one rule."

"This is crap!" Number 2 insisted, tossing her hand aside and bringing her staff to her hands. "Screw this Shadow Game. You're dying now, Pharaoh." As she moved to fire at Ami and Atem, shadows rose up, grasping at her arms and pulling her downward into the darkness.

"What the hell?!" shouted Number 3 by the door. She summed a sword to her hand but was also quickly thwarted by the tendrils of shadows rising up to stop her.

The Black Magician turned back to Atem with a rather unimpressed expression on his face.

"They never learn, do they?" Atem shrugged. "Those with wicked hearts will always seek to break the rules. It can't be helped, I suppose." He turned to Number 1 on the left, the only red-suited woman still standing and in one piece. "What are you going to do without them to back you up?"

Ami watched silently. This was surreal. Atem was powerful, certainly not the concerned ordinary person she had first believed him to be. Though she didn't believe him _completely_ ordinary when he learned there were two souls sharing Yugi's body. There was more to this, more to Ancient Egypt and its pharaohs that had been completely lost in time. Her academic side was screaming for information, but her sailor guardian side was saying this was a powerful ally. Perhaps he could help find 'her' without being completely helpless when targeted.

Though she wasn't sure she wanted Usagi to see this shadow game. It may unsettle her given the past battles with shadows and darkness that had plagued their lives for the past two years. Somehow she'd have to break the news to Usagi that her new friend was really two and one played with shadows.. For now, she could gather information. She tapped her supercomputer in her purse. She wanted readings of the magic that was happening here to analyze later.

"Let's play," Number 1 announced, drawing a card. As she drew, however, she slipped a card from her sleeve to the top of the draw pile before drawing it. "I summon the Thousand-eyed Idol!" she commanded, but nothing happened. "Why aren't you summoning, damn you!"

"It seems that none of them have pure intentions," Ami observed.

"Seems they don't," Atem agreed. "Looks like our tag-team is going to be cut short, Mizuno-san. One day, we'll have a proper duel."

"I'm holding you to this, Atem-san," Ami agreed.

"As for the rest of you, as promised," Atem turned to the three red-suited women. "Those who cheat must pay the price. Penalty game!"

The shadows withdrew, Atem offering the Black Magician a smile before he disappeared. The Water Princess was gone as well, now withdrawn into the darkness, leaving Ami with only her cards in her hand. She stared a bit, seeing the red-suited women flail around, seemingly trying to gather something on the ground that wasn't actually there.

"Cards! Look at all the rare cards!" Number 1 exclaimed.

"What's happening to them?" Ami asked.

"Penalty game," Atem replied. "They're seeing what they wanted to see, even if it wasn't there. It's just an illusion. Their friends will likely be by to pick them up. We should leave them be."

Ami nodded, slipping her deck back into her purse. This was definitely some kind of wild, perhaps ancient magic at work here. The pharaoh was definitely not the helpless target she thought him to be at first. His form of magic did concern her, but she'd certainly seen worst. And sometimes those with dark powers turned out to be allies like the Asteroids and to some extent, Saturn and the Shitennou. "The others are likely searching for us. Let's keep this secret between us."

"Seems we'll have quite a few secrets between us," Atem agreed. "For now, I'll let Aibou enjoy a normal outing to the theme park."

Ami watched them, reasoning that the two had swapped places again. It was an odd thought, but she'd seen some odd things, quite a few of them in the past few weeks. She honestly couldn't have predicted this would be the outcome. She wasn't quite sure what she'd tell the others. She still wasn't completely sure about the situation itself yet. Perhaps the data she'd collected would clear a few things up. Probably not. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this secret, or if she _should_.

"Other me isn't bad," Yugi peered at Ami, noticing the concern on her face. "His magic is shadow-based, but he's not bad."

Ami peered at him for a moment, worry knit into her brow, before shaking her head. "I don't think he's bad. That's not it at all. I'm just not sure if I should share it with the other guardians. Or how."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can understand. I hid Other me from my friends for awhile. I wasn't even certain he existed until we first spoke, just that I couldn't remember some things. But in the end, I was happy I told them."

"They all know that there are two of you?" Ami asked.

Yugi nodded. "They do, for some time. Perhaps when you and Other me talk, it might clear some things up."

Ami nodded. Perhaps learning more would be better. She could present all the information to the others and they hopefully would understand. With the shadow magics, they may assume the wrong thing at first. "I'll hold you both to this. For now, let's find the others and make sure Usagi-chan hasn't spent all her allowance on games."

Yugi laughed. "I can't blame her if she does. Games are the best."

Ami was quickly learning his world completely revolved around games and making friendships through them.

And sure enough, there was Usagi surrounded by the others with ice cream, cotton candy, several oversized Duel Monsters plush in her arms, and a flower barrette in her hair. "Ami-chaaan! Yugi-kun! Did you two get lost? We got hungry waiting for you!"

"That's more you, Usagi-chan," Rei flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"If I recall, you also had half that funnel cake, Rei-chan," Minako pointed out with a sly grin on her face.

"We got you both some funnel cake," Makoto offered.

"Sorry we took so long," Yugi apologized. "I got distracted by watching some of the games and lost track of time." He glanced at Ami, hoping she'd play along with the excuse.

"Some of them were quite fascinating in potential strategies, but most seem to be simply luck or skill," Ami carried the idea.

"Ami-chaaaaan! Stop sucking the fun outta things and let's have some sugar!" Usagi suggested.

"Then we can play more games!" Makoto cheered. "I bet you can't beat me in a game of strength, Jounouchi-kun."

"Oh yeah?" Jounouchi took the bait. "We'll see about that!"

Ami laughed. Yeah everything would be alright.

 **...**

 **Author's musings:**

Finally! A legit shadow game! And Ami's there to participate. Those poor red suited women. Maybe someone will come by and pick them up.

Ami's way of playing games and actually enjoys them not only comes from season 1 and the arcade, but also from the stars anime where she goes to a game convention and dresses up. She gets pretty far in the tournament iirc and competes against one of the starlights.

This friendship that spawned between Yugi and Ami is an understanding of strategy and competition. When I first started planning this story, I hadn't really expected that these two would mesh so well, but the more I wrote them, the more I realized they could be friends. I love giving Ami a friend/rival that keeps her fighting spirit up (like with Mercurius but not quite that obsessive)

And now because these two have become so intertwined, Ami finds herself in a dilemma. How to tell the others about the shadow games and about Atem?


	13. Dinner and data

A few days had passed since the outing at Kaiba Land. Ami still hadn't told the others about what happened, simply stating that there was a minor distraction and they were both okay. She felt bad lying to the others, but she resolved to have more information about the situation until she told the others.

She sat at the table in her apartment, pouring over the data she'd collected from the Shadow Game, comparing it with recent discoveries in Ancient Egyptian myth. She couldn't find any record of a pharaoh named Atem, but that wasn't too uncommon. The ancients would erase the name of a person to remove them from history. He hardly seemed like one to be removed from history, but she still didn't know much about him. Perhaps it was done to protect him.

There was also the possibility that Atem was the soul's private name. Ancient Egyptian royalty often had a public name for general use and a private name that was considered magical. His public name could be something entirely different.

She paused as she heard a knock on the door. She wasn't expecting someone.

Leaving her work on the table, she opened the door to find a smiling Makoto on the other side. "You've holed yourself up here so much, Ami-chan, I've brought food!"

Ami blinked a few times before smiling. "That's sweet, Makoto-chan. Come in. I was just busy analyzing some data."

"Data?" Makoto echoed. "That sounds important. I'm not interrupting, am I?"

Ami shook her head, closing the door behind her friend. "I was analyzing some data I've taken in our encounters with the blood-red suited people and from the incident in the Tokyo Convention Center."

"Find anything good?" Makoto asked, setting the food on the counter in Ami's kitchen. She started separating the boxes of homemade curry, rice, and pork cutlets.

Ami stared at the analysis spitting out information on the screen of both her supercomputer and her laptop. "Actually..." she replied almost hesitantly. "I... well, I've learned some things I haven't told anyone else about yet. I've been debating on what to do with this information even though I haven't fully understood the situation yet."

"This sounds deep," Makoto remarked, digging for the dishes in the cabinets. "It's bugging you, isn't it?"

"Terribly," Ami admitted. "Would you mind lending an ear?"

"Of course," Makoto nodded, gathering the plates and serving up the food. "I've got all night."

…...

"So let me get this straight," Makoto pinched the last pork cutlet with her chopsticks, "there are two Yugis and one is the spirit of an ancient pharaoh?"

Ami nodded. "I still don't know how it's like this. Yugi mentioned it was something related to solving the pendant he wears, but I haven't had the chance to ask them the full details. It seems to be a symbiotic relationship between the two."

"Does Usagi-chan know?"

Ami shook her head. "Not at all. I'm barely able to tell which Yugi is which, but she might've met both. I'm just not sure how she'd take the Shadow Games given all the times we've encountered malignant shadows."

"I'm sure she'd be just fine, especially since she already knows Yugi-kun," Makoto nodded assuredly. "I think she'd be more worried that Atem-kun was being targeted instead."

"That does sound like Usagi-chan," Ami smiled. "Perhaps I've been worrying about this far too much."

"Well I can't deny that it would be pretty jarring, but we both know that Usagi-chan can handle a lot. She'd be surprised but I know she'd be fine," Makoto nodded. "Though with this new enemy after Atem-kun, it does make me wonder if these red-suited weirdos could be after Usagi-chan too."

Ami glanced down at her curry, turning the idea over in her head a few times. "What makes you think so?"

"Remember how she mentioned that Black Magician felt familiar," Makoto explained, "how she thought it may have encountered him before? It sorta matches up with what you were saying with how that magician and Atem-kun were interacting. Maybe Usagi-chan and Atem-kun and that magician really have met before."

"That's a good point," Ami agreed, peering over at the data pouring across her laptop screen. "Perhaps I'd been too focused on the red-suited people to even notice the similarities."

Makoto tapped the chopsticks on the side of the bowl. "They are searching for a 'her', but what if it is Princess Serenity they're after because maybe she met Atem-kun in the past?"

"We're working on theory here, Makoto-chan," Ami countered.

"I know," Makoto leaned back in her chair. "We're working with vague dreams and ancient pharaohs. And it wouldn't be the first time an enemy has been after Usagi-chan and her silver crystal."

"And each time, Usagi-chan is the one to defeat the enemy with it," Ami pointed out.

"We all know she can very well take care of herself in the end," Makoto admitted, "but it always seems to involve a lot of hurt. Yugi-kun is one of her new friends now, and if he's hurt, she could become very upset."

"And here I thought we might be able to live peacefully until Crystal Tokyo became reality," Ami sighed.

"Yeah it sucks," Makoto agreed. "Why don't we drown our sorrows with some mochi?"

"I don't really see how that solves our predicament," Ami frowned.

"'course it doesn't," Makoto stood up from the table, "but it'll make it a little better at the moment." She shuffled back to the kitchen, pulling out a tray of fresh mochi from the market. She set the tray down on the table. "I've got red bean paste, chocolate, and even strawberry."

Ami conceded, selecting a strawberry one. As she took a bite, she couldn't completely disagree that the mochi did make it seem better at the moment.

Makoto took a large bite of the strawberry one. "Here's how I see it. Currently, if these weirdos even are after Usagi-chan, they don't know she's Princess Serenity just yet. If we can find a way to pound them in the face _before_ they find out, we'll be able to protect both her _and_ Atem-kun."

"And Yugi-kun as well," Ami added.

"Of course," Makoto nodded. "We don't want him being tangled up in this, though he sounds like he's more accustomed to this than we first thought."

"I don't really know the details, but Atem-san promised me we'd talk." Ami took another bite of the mochi. This sure was good. "With this possible link between him and Usagi-chan, I should probably ask him to chat sooner rather than later."

"Wouldn't hurt," Makoto shrugged. She paused as she heard the computer start beeping. "Some alarm for finding good data, Ami-chan?"

Ami pulled the laptop over to her, typing a few things into the command prompt. Nothing unusual seemed to be popping up. She picked up the laptop, holding it next to her ear, before realizing the laptop wasn't alarming this time as it had been throughout much of the afternoon. It was the other computer. She picked up the mercury supercomputer, tapping a few buttons on it. "It's Yugi-kun."

Makoto stared across the table at the tiny computer. "Why is Yugi-kun paging your supercomputer?"

"At the Convention Center, I gave him a communicator so he could call me if he came across magical opponents," Ami explained. "After what I saw at Kaiba Land with Atem-san's magic, I don't think I was expecting him to call again. At least not so soon."

 _Ami-chan really had planned ahead_ , Makoto reasoned. "Do need me to leave?"

"No, stay," Ami shook her head. "I'd rather you know as well." She pressed a few buttons on her supercomputer, opening communication channels. "Yugi-kun, I wasn't expecting you to call me. Was there another attack? Are you alright?"

 _"I'm fine,"_ the voice replied. _"It's actually Atem, Mizuno-san. Don't worry, Aibou's just fine. Kind of."_

Ami frowned. "What do you mean, kind of?"

 _"I'm not sure I can really explain it. It doesn't make sense,"_ Atem replied. _"Can I meet you somewhere?"_

Ami peered across the table at Makoto. "One of the others is here, is that alright?"

 _"So you took Aibou's suggestion,"_ Atem observed. _"Won't be a problem. Perhaps more minds on this can figure out what's going on."_

Ami tapped a few keys on her supercomputer. "I'm sending you where I am. Come over right away."

 _"I'll be there soon._ "

Ami closed the supercomputer. "That sounded unsettling. I hadn't heard worry in his voice before. He had sounded confident and certain."

"I'm worried that this 'plan' Luna and Artemis had overheard is starting," Makoto worried. "Just what could they be truly planning that's so shocking that it could disturb an ancient pharaoh?" She wasn't certain she wanted to know, but if they were to defeat this new enemy and protect their friends, knowing would help them in the end. Then she could punch it harder when they met the enemy face to face.

...

 **Author's musings**

I just love pairing Makoto and Ami together. I see Makoto as the sort to lend an ear, even if she didn't always understand whatever Ami talked about. Ami just needs someone she can open up to without worrying that the other person might worry too much or just simply doesn't get it. Makoto seems the perfect match.


	14. Missing

"I can't say I was quite expecting this," Atem stared at the pork cutlet curry set in front of him.

"Makoto-chan is an excellent chef," Ami explained. "We were having dinner, so now you're joining us."

"Everything is better over food," Makoto chimed in from the kitchen, gathering then bringing to the table glasses of water. "There's mochi, too. Though I don't know what ancient pharaohs eat."

Atem laughed a bit. Knowing that he was an ancient pharaoh's spirit was likely pretty jarring for someone who just found out. Makoto was certainly taking it rather casually. "I eat pretty much the same as anyone else in Tokyo, mostly whatever Aibou likes."

"There's plenty more if you want more," Makoto offered, settling down across from him at the table. "Take your time if you need."

He did take a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Before you ask, Aibou is safe."

"I figured you'd be more upset if those strange suited people had gotten to him," Ami noted.

"There would be hell to pay," Atem replied. "It's something different, something I can't quite explain. Do you recall all the friends we brought to Kaiba Land?"

"There were quite a few of them," Makoto recalled. "Why?"

He set the chopsticks down on the side of the bowl, leaning forward on the table with both hands firmly on it as he stared at the two girls across from him. "Do you remember Honda-kun?"

"He was the tall one with pointed brown hair, right?" Makoto recalled. "Yeah, what about him?"

"So you remember him, right?" Atem pressed.

"What's going on, Atem-san?" Ami asked, staring back at him. "Why the focus on Honda-san?"

Atem frowned a bit, furrowing his eyebrows. "For some reason, I'm the only one at Domino High who remembers him. Even Aibou can't remember him."

"W-what?!" Makoto stared in surprise and confusion. "I thought you all were very close!"

"We are," Atem replied. "Honda-kun has been part of the group for some years. He was Jounouchi-kun's best friend before he befriended Aibou. But for some reason, even Jounouchi-kun can't remember him. It's like he didn't exist."

"We've had cases of missing people," Ami recalled the abductions by the Black Moon, "but I can't recall a time that someone has simply ceased to exist."

"I can't either," Makoto shook her head. "Did you go looking for him?"

Atem nodded. "After school, I told Aibou I wanted to search for him. I even went to his apartment." He shook his head sharply. "Nothing. It was like he never existed."

"Even his family didn't remember him?" Makoto questioned.

Atem shook his head. "For some reason, I remember him only. I thought I might be losing my mind, but perhaps I'm unaffected since I'm just a spirit."

"It might be magic," Ami reasoned, pulling the supercomputer to her side of the table. "I took some readings during our Shadow Game the other day. My analyses tell me that your magic is actually quite similar to ours, elemental and quite ancient. It may make you immune to whatever's affecting everyone."

"I would've thought Aibou's lack of magics would've affected me, if that were the case," Atem reasoned.

"You seem to have your own memories and personality," Ami pointed out. "It's possible that whatever's causing this is considering you two as two separate entities."

"It's very possible," Atem admitted. "When I first awoke, Aibou wasn't even aware I was there."

"I'm still not sure how that works," Ami admitted.

"It's a bit of a story, but I did promise that I would explain some," Atem recalled. "Long ago, when I was still alive, I sealed myself away in this puzzle here to prevent a dark god from rampaging the kingdom and subsequently the world. I had my successor erase my name, which caused me to forget everything, and break apart the puzzle. Aibou solved it and woke me up."

"That's uncannily similar to what happened in our past," Makoto recalled, "though slightly different. We fought an incarnation of Chaos who caused the Earth to fight against the Moon, destroying both kingdoms until Queen Serenity used her power to cause everyone to be reborn."

"Wait, the Moon?" Atem leapt up from his seat, nearly knocking it backward in surprise.

Both Ami and Makoto nodded.

"That dream..." Atem recalled. "It must've been real."

"A dream?" Ami echoed. "You mentioned that before."

"My memories are still somewhat fractured," Atem explained, "but I've been getting this sense of deja vu for a while now, ever since I started having this dream about someone who fell from the Moon."

"What did she look like?" Ami questioned.

"I can't remember exactly," Atem shook his head. "I just remember a lot of white and I think silver hair."

"Princess Serenity," Makoto reasoned. "Seems she really did fall to the Earth when we weren't looking."

"I'm honestly not surprised," Ami shook her head. "The strange thing is, none of us remember it. It's possible this is related to a memory we haven't actually recovered."

"Princess Serenity," Atem considered the name. "She was very serene and soft spoken."

"Serenity did have a habit of traveling to Earth even though visiting was forbidden," Ami recalled. "She always followed her heart, never listening to reason."

"Did you two live on the Moon, too?" Atem questioned.

"We were Princess Serenity's guardians," Ami explained. "We had our own homes on other planets, but we spent most of our time on the Moon. And like her, we were reincarnated here in present time."

"Could Princess Serenity be the 'her' that the red-suited weirdos want to find?" Atem considered the idea. "They're after me, and I get the feeling this dream might tell us why. Like you, we've dealt with a lot of reincarnation and stranded souls like myself."

"Is the Black Magician a stray soul?" Ami questioned.

"Not quite," Atem shook his head. "He was originally a Ka, a spirit that represented the true heart of one of my priests. He once sacrificed his own body in order to merge with it so he could protect Egypt. When Duel Monsters was first made, the creator used our Shadow Games as the basis for many of the cards, my old friend included."

Ami considered the thought. "So in the Shadow Game, when the Water Princess looked different, was this a reflection of me?"

"A Shadow Game is a reflection of the player's hearts," Atem explained.

"That explains why she looked like my past self," Ami recalled. The pieces were finally falling in place and aligning, much more quickly than she had expected. And this time, conversations instead of multiple analyses had helped. The phone rang in the kitchen, interrupting their conversation. "I'm sorry, excuse me."

She picked it up, immediately holding it away from her ear, squeezing one eye shut. After a moment, she put the phone to her ear. "Calm down, Usagi-chan. Tell me what's going on exactly? Mhm... Are you serious?... I think we all need to meet together at my place."

"What's wrong?" Makoto knit her brow in concern.

Ami placed her hands on the counter as she hung up the phone. She looked unsteady on her feet for a moment. Something was going on here, and it wasn't good. "Naru-chan has ceased to exist."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Well well well. Something sure is stirring, isn't it? The enemy finally has made a big move and not only one of Yugi's friends has disappeared, Usagi's best friend seems to have fallen victim as well.

Just as all the information seems to come together, something makes it fall apart. Alas.


	15. Shared memories

"So you're actually an ancient pharaoh," Rei scrutinized Atem.

"That's right," Atem nodded, staring back.

"Who may have met Princess Serenity in the past," Rei pressed on.

"That's right," Atem replied again.

"That shares a body with Yugi-san," Rei continued.

"That's also right," Atem nodded.

"And is the 'him' target these red-suited weirdos want?" Rei added

"That's right," Atem replied.

Usagi had been in the kitchen for most of the conversation, sitting on the counter as she chewed on what remained of the mochi supply and attempting not to cry the entire time. She pulled at the mochi with her teeth, chewing it loudly before swallowing. "The guy in my dreams who wanted to help me get back to the Moon."

"To think a shared memory would lead us together," Atem turned back to Usagi.

"That happens a lot," Ami pointed out. "We all did come together, attracted to each other with a shared past."

"I would've figured it was children's card games," Rei frowned sharply.

"Dueling!" Minako corrected her.

"If the suited weirdos are after Atem-kun," Minako tried to think aloud, "Why would Naru-chan suddenly disappear?"

"It makes me worry that somehow the suited weirdos managed to figure out that Usagi-chan is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity," Ami worried.

"Well I did kinda use my Silver Crystal to purify the people affected at the Convention Center," Usagi frowned. "What was I supposed to do? Let them stay mind controlled?"

"That was the right thing to do, Usagi-chan!" Minako emphatically reaffirmed. "When in doubt, use light!"

"I don't think that's even close to what you mean," Rei commented. "The question is, what's causing Naru-chan and Honda-kun to simply just disappear?"

Ami typed a few things into her supercomputer. "It has to be some sort of magic," she reasoned. "It must be the reason why we remember these people and no one else does. This may be the first of the 'plan' these strange suited people have in store for us."

"It must be something that happened in the past," Atem thought aloud, "something that happened when I met Princess Serenity. She just wanted to get back to the Moon. I'm not sure what else could've happened." He paused, staring down at the table a bit. "There is someone who might, but I doubt he'll even care."

"Anything is worth a shot," Makoto encouraged him.

"Aibou may somehow consider him a friend, but he's more of an antagonist," Atem frowned. "His past self was one of my priests. In the last part of the memory I can recall, we went to speak with him. The reincarnation, however, wants nothing to do with our shared past."

"The one wearing blue?" Usagi perked up, recalling the image in his dream.

Atem nodded. "Priest Seto. He was my successor after I sealed myself away." There was another, a rather malicious spirit, but honestly dealing with the Thief King's soul was the _last_ thing he wanted to do right now. "His reincarnation will likely not help us."

"There must be something else we can do," Ami frowned. "Something that will give us insight that won't involve waiting for more dreams."

"When I first dove into my memories, it was with an Egyptian Tablet," Atem recalled. "However, that tablet has since moved elsewhere."

"You mean this one?" Ami flipped her laptop around displaying images of the tablets that were recently displayed at the Domino Museum.

Atem nodded. "That's me," he pointed at the pharaoh carving on the screen. "And that with me is Priest Seto."

Usagi hopped off the counter. "That's the Black Magician standing over you."

"And that ridiculous dragon from the theme park looming over your friend," Rei observed. "Don't tell me. Priest Seto is the past self of that egomaniac who runs the theme park?"

"That's the blue eyes white dragon, Rei-chan!" Minako fussed. "Supposedly only three of the cards exist."

"Kaiba-kun has them all," Atem nodded.

"Selfish," Rei commented. "Not that I care."

 _"What about Malik-kun and Ishizu-san?"_ Yugi suggested.

"Hm. Aibou has a point," Atem spoke aloud. "We do know some who may be able to find us a way to walk through our memories. The only problem is, they're both in Egypt."

"That is a bit far, I think," Minako nodded.

"Half a world away," Atem nodded. "It might take awhile, but we should be able to contact them, to see what they suggest."

"I'm not sure I'm fond of the idea of waiting," Makoto folded her arms.

"We don't want to jump into this," Ami pointed out. "We still are missing a lot of information. We need to know what's in that dream and why these red-suited people are after both Atem-san and possibly Usagi-chan. Until then, we can try to find out where Honda-san and Naru-chan actually are."

"I'll tell the others as well," Atem suggested. "They already know about me. I think they can handle this situation. They may be able to look out for the missing people as well. If they remember."

"For now, let's stay in close contact with one another. Any disappearances we'll need to know right away," Ami suggested. "We'll need whatever information we can find. I'll do some research with the data I've collected as well as some about Ancient Egypt. I'll let you all know if I find something."

"If we find anything, we'll do the same," Atem agreed. He didn't like the idea of sitting around and waiting either. He'd dealt with kidnapping before, but this felt different. Honda wasn't just missing. It was as if he'd been erased from existence, and that worried him greatly.

...

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He stood in the alleyway, a long black coat over a white cabled sweater. His fluffy white hair stood out starkly against the darkness of the evening and the shadows of the buildings.

The man in the blood-red suit folded his arms. "What are you, exactly?" For some reason, the man was wearing a pair of sunglasses in the dark. "And why are you wearing that tacky sweater?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the white-haired kid smirked. "Just know that you're in my way."

"Are we now?" the man frowned sharply. "You're the one in _our_ way."

The kid seemed unaffected by the threats, more interested in offering his own threats instead. "Well one of us should back off, now shouldn't he?" The Millennium Ring started glowing from beneath the sweater. "If you think it's gonna be me, I think you're very wrong, Shades."

In a burst of light and shadows, the man was reduced to little more than sunglasses and a pair of Duel Monsters cards. The kid picked up the cards, flipping them over and looking at the faces. "So this is your plan, huh. Let's see how this plays out."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Something is definitely going down and fluffy seems to be the only one who has caught on. But he tends to be busy, bustling around in the shadows.

Both sides of the fence have dealt with disappearances. Sailor Moon, almost every arc someone has disappeared or died, and this time Usagi is just burying her sorrows in a box of mochi.

Yugioh we have the kidnappings in the Battle City arc. Atem just wants to duel things to make it better, but that's going to solve things as well as Usagi's mochi.

Curious what lies ahead, isn't it?


	16. Penalty

_"To the Moon?" Priest Seto glanced between the two. The girl was a stark contrast to the Pharaoh. Everything about her reminded him of the white moon that hung in the sky, from the dress and hair all the way down to the curious crescent moon on her forehead._

 _"Is it possible, Priest Seto?" Atem questioned him._

 _Priest Seto stared at the pair some more._

 _"I can go ask Priest Mahad," Atem frowned._

 _"As if that magician would even know," Priest Seto scoffed. "The only way to reach the Moon is to climb Nut into the sky. But I wouldn't think that's possible right now."_

 _"Why not?" Atem questioned._

 _"Priestess Isis had a vision," Priest Seto replied sharply. "It's not good. Something is after the White Moon, and you're the one standing between it and her."_

 _"After me?" Serenity worried. "But why? I just want to get home."_

 _"This threat may be after her, but it concerns us now," Atem informed him. "I'm relying on you and the rest of the priests to protect Egypt."_

 _"When could you not count on me, Pharaoh?" Priest Seto boasted. "I'll be ready when they decide to come knocking."_

...

Yugi yawned. There was just so much to take in recently. After meeting Usagi by running into her, everything kind of went haywire. Not that he blamed her for it. He was happy that he'd met Usagi and her friends. They genuinely cared, wanting the best for their friends and those they'd gathered with them. Yugi was happy to be counted among them.

Perhaps the most troubling thing was that he was literally losing friends. They were forgotten, as if they never existed in the first place. Yugi spent much of the night after leaving Ami's apartment attempting to even remember Honda, but nothing came to him. He went digging through his desk, finally locating a photo of him with his friends. And sure enough, there he was, the mysterious tall brown-haired classmate he couldn't remember. It was an older photo, but it still showed the kid that Atem swore was there before.

Yugi had shoved the photo into his school bag, keeping it there as a reminder of those who seemed to have disappeared. At least he had Atem to remind him.

Even a few days after gathering with the civilian senshi, Yugi was still concerned, worry keeping him up a bit at night. There had been no contact from the Ishtars, and Sugoroku's resources with archaeology hadn't found where the tablet was yet either. There was still the possibility that the Ring's spirit yet remained, but Yugi didn't want to really think about that guy.

Yugi yawned and shoved his hands in his pockets.

 _"Still worried about the memories, Aibou?"_ Atem loomed over his partner's shoulder.

"I'm starting to understand how frustrating it is to miss memories," Yugi confessed. "I just worry that more people might just cease to exist."

 _"They can't be completely gone else that photo wouldn't exist, Aibou,"_ Atem pointed out. _"I'm willing to bet it is like Mizuno-san said. This is some kind of magic."_

"I hope so," Yugi frowned. "I just worry it's like before when Yami Malik had kidnapped Anzu and brainwashed her."

 _"Then we'll free them again,"_ Atem confirmed. He floated from behind Yugi, now standing in front of his light half. _"We aren't going to lose them. We have more friends now to find them."_

"That's not something I'd expect you to admit, Other me," Yugi observed.

 _"Well I,"_ Atem stammered a bit. _"I've gotten used to our friends, that's all, Aibou!"_

Yugi laughed. "It's not a bad thing, Other me. A pretty big change from when we first met, isn't it? It's nice though. That means we can all rely on each other in times like this, even our new friends."

Atem couldn't deny they did need to rely on their friends right now, those who were left. Like Yugi, he did worry that others would disappear. He seemed immune the effects that made them forget the missing people, but that didn't help Yugi's worry about this. With the mention of friends, however, Yugi did seem to perk up. _"We'll win this together."_ He felt campy saying that, but he'd come to believe it throughout the battles they've had.

Yugi reached Domino High, entering as if nothing was strange. Or trying to act like nothing was strange. He and Atem had filled in the others about their missing friend, about everything that happened and the sailor guardians they had befriended. They were good at keeping secrets and could be trusted with the guardians' civilian identities.

Yugi settled into his desk, setting his backpack on the ground and pulling out several books.

 _"Aibou."_

Yugi pulled his homework out of his bag, shuffling through some of the papers and organizing them. "Hm?"

Atem glanced around the class. There seemed to be more empty desks than he could recall. Some of them tended to be late, but there were now two empty desks in particular that had caught his attention, one was Honda's but the other wasn't empty the day before. _"Aibou, do you remember Jounouchi-kun?"_

"Who?" Yugi muttered into his book. He felt so unusually sleepy lately.

Atem stared, wrinkling his nose a bit. That did explain why Yugi hadn't mentioned that Malik had taken Jounouchi _as well as_ Anzu during Battle City. Jounouchi had disappeared and had been forgotten. _"Take out your photo,"_ Atem instructed. _"The one with all of us in it."_

As Yugi took the photo out of the bag pocket, Atem reached over his shoulder, pointing at the blond standing next to Honda. _"That's him. That's Jounouchi-kun. He's one of our closest friends. He used to pick on you, but you ended up befriending him and Honda-kun."_

"Another's missing?" Yugi yawned once again. "Why do I feel so sleepy?"

Atem noticed that much of the class seemed unusually sleepy as well. Kaiba had buried his nose in a book. Anzu had started nodding off at her desk. Even Bakura looked like he was about to fall asleep. Yugi was growing more and more tired as the minutes went by to a point that Atem was certain that he'd fall asleep at his desk.

The door to the classroom slid open. Someone other than the usual homeroom teacher stepped in, someone wearing a blood-red suit. _They're certainly moving fast,_ Atem noted. _To think they'd put this many people in danger._ Though after thinking about the Convention Center, these suited people didn't seem to really concern themselves with the general public's safety. They could potentially be trying to turn everyone against him again, or they could just be trying to keep everyone else out of the way.

Atem quietly switched with Yugi, taking control of their shared body and sitting up.

"So you are here!" the red-suited man pointed at Atem with intent.

Atem wrinkled his nose. He was really getting tired of this. Sure, he was very concerned that his friends were missing, that those who were still here were now getting threatened, but he was also _very_ annoyed that these red-suits kept attacking. "I'm getting really tired of you putting everyone in danger."

He stood up, shadows emanating from his body as the Eye of Horus glowed on his forehead. "Let's play a shadow game." He leaned backward just a bit, the broad smirk contrasting the irritation showing in his eyes. He was falling back into his old habits, more inclined to use a shadow game to enact a strict form of justice than to reason it out with talking or a duel. "A game where the truth within your heart is all that matters."

But as he'd seen so far, these suited people didn't care about justice or anyone's safety. They were intent on destroying him, and Atem had the feeling the reasons were linked to whatever Priestess Isis had seen in the fractured memory he was still trying to sort out. "Loser gets to play the Penalty game. The rules are simple. First one to the front door of the school wins."

Atem watched as the suited man bolted out the door first. For ones who may be linked to his past, they sure didn't understand much about Shadow Games. Then again, these Games did bring out the true nature of those who played it. Those with evil in their hearts never won.

The suited man looked over his shoulder, cackling as he noticed that Atem hadn't even left the classroom. "This'll be a piece of cake. Just how dumb is that Pharaoh anyway?" He scoffed as he rounded the corner towards the front door. "I don't get what the Boss was so worried about."

There it was, right in front of him. The front door to the school practically called out to him, drawing him closer. "Victory!" he proclaimed as he pushed the doors wide open.

"Are you truly sure?"

The suited man stopped in his tracks, the swinging door nearly smacking him in the side. "But how?!"

Atem smirked broadly, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Didn't I tell you? The truth in your heart is all that matters. Your heart is nothing but rotten, clouded with a lack of concern for anyone or anything but your need to destroy me!" His expression grew more irate, more menacing the more he spoke. "It weighs you down so much you can't possibly win in a race against me!"

"Nonsense!" the suited man hissed.

"Now it's time to pay for your lack of concern!" Atem pointed forward, the Eye on his forehead glowing brightly, contrasting the more shadowy form his body seemed to take. "Penalty game!" He showed no concern as the suited man seemed to crumple, curling up into a ball like a child, as the shadows dissipated, leaving the clear morning sky to shine around them.

Atem leaned down towards the man. "Give your boss my regards." He stepped over the crumpled form, entering the school and closing the door behind him.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Atem is piiiiiisssed. Then again, I can't blame him. These red-suited weirdos sure are screwing with everything.

But they do bring out the Shadow Games! My favorite thing about Season 0 was the really weird shadow games that popped up, and at times they were deadly. Actually a lot of times. Playing with lighters, clocks, all sorts of things could be used in shadow games. It was the fun of Season 0. I would love to see a remake of that season in a new anime.

But I digress. Have a shadow game of my own! Atem just trashing a red-suit in the wake of friends disappearing.

The reference at the start of the chapter is mythology. Ancient Egyptians believed the goddess Nut (pronounced something more like Noot than nut) held up the sky. You could climb her body up into the heavens, so logically that's how you get back to the Moon, right?


	17. Time

"That's him," Yugi tapped the photo. "Other me says his name is Jounouchi-kun. He's missing and forgotten just like Honda-kun."

Otogi picked up the photo, looking it over. "That is us in the photo, but I don't recall either of those two."

"It's like Atem had described to us before," Anzu recalled. "We are forgetting our friends one by one."

"I still can't believe one of these strange men actually attacked at school," Otogi shook his head. "This is even weirder than that mess at Battle City."

"Other me said he took care of him," Yugi recalled, "though with that strange sleepiness, I didn't see what happened. He won't completely tell me what happened either. He seems to be pretty angry about it."

"I can't blame him," Anzu folded her arms. "They put the school and our friends in danger!"

"He told me earlier this morning he was concerned that our friends were involved in this," Yugi added. "I can't believe we've forgotten another friend. It's like they never existed and this is the only proof we have."

"At least Atem can remind us as well," Anzu pointed out hopefully. "As well as Usagi-san and her friends."

"What is even happening to them?" Otogi shook his head.

"Other me believes they're still alive somewhere," Yugi reassured him. "This photo is proof that they still exist. I can only hope that Usagi-san and the others have a photo too. Perhaps somehow we'll all be able to find our missing friends."

Anzu stared at the photo some more. She just couldn't remember the two in the photo, and it bothered her. Now that she thought about it, there were gaps in her memory, times when she thought she was spending with other people, but now she just wasn't sure. It felt empty and strange, like she'd lost time somewhere.

"I think we should try to find photos," Anzu suggested, "something so we don't forget everyone. If this keeps happening, I want to have something that still holds us all together."

"I might have something from Battle City," Otogi rubbed at his head. "I can't remember, honestly. I feel like I have blanks in my memory. Like I remember riding in Mai's car with everyone, but it's as if I can't remember who was with us."

"I've been noticing that too," Anzu agreed. "Parts of Battle City are just missing, Duelist Kingdom and before that too."

Yugi frowned. "That must be what I've been feeling too, that something is missing. I honestly can't remember them when I look at the photo, but when I think back to everything that's happened? I feel a gap."

"We're missing something here, and it's not just the memories," Otogi noted. "I think we should take Anzu-chan's suggestion. We should find something to connect us all. We've been through a lot. I don't want to forget it all."

...

Usagi sobbed miserably. "No one remembers Minako-chaaaaaaan!"

Makoto frowned, hugging Usagi closely. She was afraid this might happen, that Usagi would be hurt by this new enemy. She hadn't expected Minako to be the second victim after Naru had disappeared earlier that week. "I want to pound these red-suited menaces into the ground."

"I don't think that'll help us at the moment," Rei shook her head. "We don't know where they've been taken. It could be another world or another time like before."

"This does involve an encounter between Princess Serenity and Pharaoh Atem, after all," Ami reasoned. "Atem-san did believe this may be related to that encounter, and honestly I couldn't disagree. We still don't know much more about this encounter."

"I remember a bit more," Usagi sniffled. "Atem-kun had taken me to see Priest Seto. That guy was kind of a jerk, but he said someone else, Priestess Isis, had seen a vision that something was after the White Moon."

Rei sighed. "When is someone _not_ after the White Moon?" It was getting a bit old. "And somehow this is related to the ancient form of children's card games?" Rei knit her brow sadly when there was no swift correction from Minako.

"After Atem-san's description of the original Duel Monsters, it seems like it was pretty dangerous," Makoto noted. "Fighting with souls and life force. Sounds as deadly as the fights we've had."

"To think there were similar battles on Earth, even before Beryl's destruction," Rei folded her arms again. "And they weren't even fought by us or by Mamoru-san. At least as far as we know. Maybe we were involved."

"I've been wondering that too," Ami agreed. "Ever since Atem-san had told me that the Black Magician he summoned was the Ka of his own priest, I've been wondering. That Black Magician looked at my card like he'd seen her before, like he'd seen Princess Mercury."

"What if we were somehow involved in this, that we helped out Pharaoh Atem in the past," Makoto pondered aloud.

"It could be how they figured out that we were of the White Moon," Ami frowned sharply, "that those red-suited enemies had recognized my summon as Princess Mercury of the past."

"If that's the case, we can pretty much reason the 'her' they're after is Usagi-chan's past self," Rei frowned. "Pharaoh Atem and Princess Serenity. What happened back then that was such a threat that none of us can remember? You'd think with something that important, we'd remember when we all had our memories returned to us when we visited the Moon."

"Visiting the Moon," Ami recalled the visit. "It does make me wonder if we can use the Moon Palace to try to revisit some memories in the past, but without all five of us, we might not have enough power for a teleport."

"I wonder if Pluto would lend us a time key," Usagi mumbled.

"I'd think that would help, if we knew how to _find_ Setsuna-san," Makoto frowned. "Not that I really expect that Pluto would give us her time key. She was pretty upset when Chibiusa-chan had stolen one. Though in the end, she let her keep it."

"It is possible that Pluto would help us out if someone were trying to alter time," Ami reasoned.

Rei glanced at Ami for a moment. "Do you think they really are intending to alter it?"

"I'm not completely sure yet," Ami shook her head, "but my analysis of Domino and Azabu-Juuban shows that there have been slight temporal disturbances. It could explain why certain people have simply ceased to exist. They were physically erased but other means exist to say they were there. Photos, the Sailor V game, and the like. Perhaps we are unaffected because our knowledge somewhat exists outside of time."

"Outside of time?" Makoto tilted her head a bit curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Ami explained. "We know our past incarnations. We live in the present. We've traveled to the future Crystal Tokyo to protect the future. In a way, we exist outside of time. The same for Atem-san. He's an ancient spirit that has reawoken in the present."

"That may very well explain why we're unaffected," Rei agreed. "But that makes for a troubling situation. If our friends are being pulled from the timeline, where are they going? Can we get them back?"

"I don't want to lose Minako-chan and Naru-chan forever," Usagi sniffled. "I don't want to lose any of you either! And what about Yugi-kun's friend, Honda-kun?"

"We'll figure something out," Makoto patted her on the shoulder. "We always do. We won't let anyone disappear from time. Until then, we'll just need to keep an eye out for any unusual disappearances or clues to tell us who these people are and what they're doing to our friends."

...

"You red suits've been busy, haven't you?" The shadow with the white hair peered down his nose at the crumpled, red-suited form laying in the alleyway. He pulled at the Millennium Ring with his finger, curling the rope around it. For once, he wasn't wearing a campy sweater but instead the Domino High uniform with a white button-up shirt underneath the jacket.

"It's so dark! The hallways!" the red-suit cowered. "They never end!"

He knelt down, looking over the red-suit and prodding him with his finger. "The Pharaoh did a number on you, didn't he? To think he had it in him still." He looked the man over, finding exactly what he was looking for. There were two cards sticking out of the man's suit pocket. "While normally I'd cast you into the Shadows myself, I think I'll leave you to suffer the Pharaoh's Penalty Game. More fun that way."

He removed the two cards, standing up and looking at the card faces. He shook his head, shoving the cards in his pocket and walking away.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

A bit of a double-sided chapter! Well perhaps triple if you count or favorite shadow with his own agenda. The disappearances continue and both sides are feeling the effects. They handle the situation in their own way.

The Yugioh gang isn't used to this sort of thing. Sure there had been kidnappings but possibly magical disappearnces? This is a new one. There are a few photos that surface in the series, probably taken by Anzu, so finding those photos would be important to them and the memories of their friends

The Sailor Moon gang tends to deal with this sort of thing more often, choosing to be more proactive in how they try to mitigate the damage and track down the enemy.

The idea of being timeless is something that both series have in common. Both series have existed across millennia, though SM stretches in both directions instead of just to the past. There are people with past and present lives, and in this case, they've crossed paths before. How they crossed is left to be said.

I do wonder how this will unfold. Hmmmmmmm.


	18. Shrine

Anzu wasn't entirely sure what she was doing. She was never one to be religious. Sure she'd visited the shrine on New Years, but that didn't mean she was religious. That was tradition.

She could've easily visited one in Domino, but the city was more industrial with little traditional aspects to it. So she'd found herself instead in Azabu-Juuban. She knew that Rei was a shrine maiden, but she'd never actually asked at _which_ shrine. She simply chose at random, choosing one of the largest in the areas.

She couldn't deny there was a certain serenity to the place, scaling the stairs up the hillside and entering through the torii gate. It was said that walking through a torii would purify the soul. Perhaps that could help. Probably not.

Everything had been spiraling out of control lately. She spent the better part of the previous night sorting through some of her photos and memories she had scattered about the apartment. Sure enough, she found the photo from Battle City where she drew the smile on their hands. They all had posed together, showing off the smiley face that connected all four of them. She felt awful that she still couldn't remember two of them. They must've been special to connect them all together like that.

As she entered the shrine, that photo was tucked into her purse. She felt a bit out of place. It was such a traditional location and here she was in a yellow shirt with SPIRIT written across it and a miniskirt. Perhaps she should've worn something a bit more conservative.

A shorter, bald man approached. He wore blue hakama and traditional robes. "Well nice of you to visit the Hikawa Shrine, pretty lady."

Holy kami or whatever else protected this shrine! Perhaps she'd chosen the wrong place. Perhaps visiting a shrine was a bad idea. Anzu turned to leave.

"Stop scaring away the visitors, Grampa!" The shrine maiden smacked him with a traditional broom.

He attempted to protest. "But-"

She smacked him with a broom again. "You'll have to excuse my grandfather, Anzu-san," she apologized.

"Rei-san," Anzu turned, seeing the familiar face from the theme park now dressed in the traditional red and white miko robes, brandishing a broom at the older man.

"Come, we can talk inside," Rei beckoned Anzu to follow. She lead Anzu into the building, instructing her to remove her shoes. Rei removed hers as well, shuffling across the tatami mats in her socks. She slid open a door, offering Anzu a place to sit. The table was traditional, close to the ground and surrounded by several pillows. On the table was a kettle of tea with several empty teacups. In the back of the room, a fire roared, framed by several folded papers on a string Anzu couldn't remember the meaning of.

As they entered, Rei slid the door shut behind them. "We always gather here whenever we need to talk. Please, sit. I'll get you some snacks."

"That won't really be necessary-" Anzu objected but before she could finish, Rei had already left the room. Traditional hospitality, she reasoned. She just wasn't used to it. She settled down on her knees at the table. After a moment, she decided that was a bad idea, her feet quickly falling asleep, and she instead stretched them nontraditionally underneath the table.

Rei soon returned with some small traditional rice treats, settling down at the table on her knees like nothing was unusual.

"I'm still surprised that you are a sailor guardian," Anzu admitted, taking one of the offered treats. "You just seem so... cool."

Rei nearly dropped the tea kettle. "I suppose I am a bit of a contrasting balance to some of them. But what I told you at the theme park was true. They had found me when magical occurrences had caused visitors to blame me for the disappearances. Usagi-chan had come to my defense, not even knowing me at the time. She made me feel like I had a place in the world."

"She really is sweet, isn't she?" Anzu remarked, taking the offered tea. "I can see why she gets along with Yugi so well."

"She's got a heart of gold," Rei agreed. "It's her greatest strength. Though I'm sure you didn't come to talk about Usagi-chan. Were you after charms instead? Or did something happen?"

"Well I did consider charms," Anzu confessed. "I'm just not sure they'd work."

"They don't work if you don't believe in their power," Rei informed her, cradling the teacup in her hand.

"I suppose that works pretty much like the heart of the cards," Anzu admitted. "You don't believe it, it won't work for you. Anything mystical like that could work that way. No offense. I've just never been one to be too religious."

"It's not for everyone," Rei acknowledged. "Just like I don't understand everyone's obsession with this children's card game."

"Duel Monsters is actually quite enjoyable, if you give it a chance," Anzu admitted. "I don't play it much myself, but it's fun to sit down and play games with friends. I think I have more fun cheering on Yugi during his bouts. And the others. Probably the others."

"Probably?" Rei picked up on the words.

Anzu pursed her lips, digging in her purse and pulling out the photo from Duelist Kingdom. "This was taken at our first tournament. The problem is, I can no longer remember why we took it. I can't remember these two anymore. They just don't exist." She indicated Jounouchi and Honda in the photo.

"Honda-san and Jounouch-san," Rei recalled them. "They were obnoxious."

Anzu nearly choked on her tea. "Were they?"

"You certainly seemed to think so at times, Anzu-san," Rei added. "You pulled Jounouchi-san's ear several times."

She sighed into her teacup. "I can't remember then at all. I stare and stare at this photo, and nothing comes to me."

Rei set down her teacup, folding her hands on the table. She could see the concern pull at the brunette's features sharply. "We're trying to figure out why this is happening. Ami-chan has been pouring over ideas, and we think it may be related to time. We're not sure yet."

"Time?" Anzu echoed. "Like time magic?"

Rei stared across the table. "You seem to be taking this surprisingly well."

"I've visited Atem's memories," Anzu admitted. "We've pretty much traveled through time in this sense, able to see his home in ancient Egypt, live through his memories, see how he once lived and battled."

"You've witnessed all this?" Rei questioned, interested.

Anzu nodded. "Not too long before Yugi encountered Usagi-san."

"What can you tell me about this?" Rei pressed. "Do you know about a dark god?"

"There's so much to tell," Anzu admitted. "The dark god, that's likely Zorc, a dark god that threatened everything. Atem did everything he could to stop him. But Zorc's been sealed and defeated. He did have some power over time, but it was very short, only able to rewind a few hours." She took a sip of tea. "Though by the way Atem has spoken, it sounds more like the encounter with the Moon Princess happened _before_ that, before any of the memories we saw and experienced."

"It was before our battles at that time as well," Rei reasoned. "But for some reason, none of us remember this from our past lives."

"It's like Atem had experienced so long, that blank in your memories," Anzu observed. "I can relate in a way. With these disappearances, I've been feeling a blank in my memory too."

"We'll find a way to get them back, Anzu-san," Rei reassured her. "I want to ensure we get everyone back."

"I hope so," Anzu frowned. "I don't like the idea of forgetting friends."

Rei cradled her tea for a moment. While she was used to weird occurrences and villains that crossed time and space, this was certainly new to Anzu. Perhaps she really could use something to help her cope with the situation, even if just a little. "You did come here for a protection charm. Why don't I help you find the perfect one?"

Anzu paused, considering objecting but ultimately conceding. "I'd like that actually."

 **...**

 **Author's notes**

It's Rei and Anzu time! I really like the idea of the two of them having a friendship. The more I worked on this story, the more I thought they would really get along, so a friendship had to form! Maybe they could go shopping together later.


	19. Arcade

_She was tall and elegant, draped in long beige cloth and decorated with golden jewelry. She offered a polite bow as the pair approached._

 _"Priestess Isis," Atem addressed her. "Priest Seto said that you'd seen a troubling vision."_

 _"There is a great evil that wishes to steal the Moon's power," Isis explained. "I could not see much more, but this great darkness attempted to swallow the Moon whole."_

 _"Why would anyone want to swallow the Moon?" Serenity asked, her expression wrought with worry._

 _"It is a great red force," Isis replied, "but beyond that, I do not know."_

 _..._

Usagi heard her alarm blaring. Bleary-eyed, she reached out from underneath the covers and smacked it off the table before retreating back into the safety of the blankets.

Luna padded over, pushing the clock over with her paw. It was a very particular clock she'd become fond of, a black cat with a clock in its belly. It kind of looked like her. Kind of. It was at least cute. "Usagi-chan."

"I don't want to get up, Luna," Usagi protested, burrowing even further underneath the covers. "Someone else might disappear. Ami-chan already said Mako-chan's apartment was empty last night."

Luna sprang up on the bed, burrowing under the covers and curling up next to Usagi. "Usagi-chan..." She could understand how Usagi felt. This was troubling. People seemed to be pulled from time and erased from existence. One by one, they slowly had disappeared, forgotten as if they never were there in the first place.

Usagi curled her arm around the moon cat, hugging her. Everything was falling apart again. It was supposed to be easy after defeating Chaos in the Galaxy Cauldron. Finish high school, have some fun, ascend to be the elegant queen of Crystal Tokyo and marry her soul mate. Easy.

Pity it wasn't turning out that way. At least Mamoru was still there when she called him to cry last night as she stared at the special Duel Monsters card he'd bought for her. The others, however, didn't seem to be so lucky. They were down to three. "Don't disappear on me, okay, Luna?"

"I'll claw my way back to you," Luna reassured her.

 _"Usagi-chan!"_

Usagi peered out from beneath the covers, her hair a mess of tangles and pink bows. She squinted at her mother holding her usual ladle. "It's Sunday, Mama, I don't have school today."

Ikuko-mama shook her head. "There's some boy here to see you. Suddenly get a new boyfriend?"

"W-what?" Usagi flailed. "No! Mamo-chan is the only one for me!"

"Well you should tell that boy," Ikuko-mama pointed out. "He seems to want to take you out today." She ducked back down the hallway. "Peculiar hairstyle. I guess starfish is the new style fad..."

"Yugi-kun!" Usagi fell out of bed in a tangle of bed sheets and bunny comforter. "He's a friend, Mama! I friend!"

She managed to untangle herself from the nest, crawling her way to her closet and pulling on a simple blue dress with a bow on the shoulder. She quickly pulled a brush through her hair, removing all the bows, and stumbled downstairs, tripping and falling all the way down.

Yugi nearly leapt from the table. "Ah, Usagi-san! Are you alright?"

She rubbed the back of her head, laughing as Luna padded down the stairs behind her with a bit of a sigh.

"Sorry to show up unannounced," Yugi apologized. "I asked for your address from Mizuno-san. I thought we could do something fun for once. Go out to the arcade or the duel arena."

Usagi managed to pick herself up off the floor. "There's a duel arena?"

Yugi nodded. "We never did have that duel since we first met."

"Duel?" Kenji-papa peered over his newspaper at the two. "Is fencing the newest thing to do with your free time, Usagi?"

"It's a card game, Papa!" Usagi quickly answered, grabbing Yugi by the wrist and heading for the front door. "I'll be back later!" Slipping on her shoes, she grabbed her purse and closed the door behind them.

Yugi followed her silently for a few blocks before they both stopped.

"My parents don't really know anything that's going on," Usagi filled him in. "I've been Sailor Moon for two years, and they still don't know. I don't really want them to know people are being erased."

Yugi knit his brow in worry. "Someone else disappeared?"

"Mako-chan," Usagi frowned. "Ami-chan found her apartment empty."

Yugi shook his head. He couldn't remember the name, but he felt that emptiness again. He'd met her and promptly forgot. He wasn't magic like Usagi was, forgetting the missing people and only feeling emptiness. "We need to keep our spirits up."

"Huh?" Usagi blinked stupidly.

"If we want to find a solution, we can't mope around," Yugi reiterated. "We need to keep our spirits up."

Usagi shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She didn't like the idea of her friends missing, but it was like Ami had said before. They didn't have enough information about what was going on. Ami was researching it more, so hopefully they'd have something they could use. She smacked her cheeks. "You're right. We should do something. No use having us mope around. Ever play the Sailor V game?"

Yugi shook his head. "I've heard of it but never played."

"It's only the best video game out right now!" Usagi insisted. "You need to try it!"

...

"C'mon, Yugi-kun!" Usagi cheered. "You're almost at the last level where you can defeat the Dark Agency!"

Yugi tapped on the buttons rapidly. "Alright, let's stop this evil agency from taking over the world. Sailor V has to win!"

Usagi leaned over the side of the machine, watching him play the game. She'd only seen this level a few times but never had actually beaten the game yet. It was a pretty difficult game, or at least she thought so. She'd spent far too many yen trying to beat it. "Come on, you can beat them!"

Yugi tapped the buttons some more, firing off attacks and magic that Usagi had only seen in the game when Ami played it. "C'mon, c'mon. Yes!"

Usagi jumped up and down, cheering some more as the Victory screen showed across the game. "You did it! You beat the Dark Agency!" She tried not to think about her missing friends, about Minako who once did fight the Dark Agency. She had to try to stay positive and hopeful.

Yugi grinned brightly, entering his name into the leaderboard before the credits rolled. "We should try another game, maybe one with two players. What about Capsule Monsters?

"What's that?" Usagi hadn't played that game before.

"It's based on an older game called Capsule Monsters Chess," Yugi explained. "It was once a strategic board game but it's been turned digital recently."

"I'm not really good at strategy games," Usagi frowned, "but if the mini characters are cute, I'll give it a try." They rounded the corner, finding the Kaiba Corp games in the corner as Usagi's purse began to beep. "Hold on." She pulled the communicator out of her bag.

 _"Usagi-chan, where are you currently?"_

It was Ami's voice, surprisingly not sounding panicked. It was a nice change from the previous night when Ami had to break the sad news about Makoto to her. "I'm at the arcade with Yugi-kun."

 _"Let him know to meet us tonight at Maru Park."_

"Everything alright?" Yugi asked, not looking up from the game. He was facing off against a great evil, one that looked closer to a youma than anything recognizable by the average person.

"We'll need to meet tonight at Maru Park," Usagi relayed the message. "But for now. Let's have some fun today! You said there was a capsule thinger right?"

"Sure is," Yugi nodded. "Before you used to put a yen into the capsule machine to get monsters. Now you can use a card to get digital ones." He pulled a digital game card from his wallet, showing off the Capsule Monsters logo.

"Seems like it's much easier now, huh," she mused, eyeing the cute capsule monsters on the card. "Well those monsters _are_ cute. Do they have cute magicians or cats?"

"They sure do!" Yugi smiled. "Even a cat magician."

"I want that one!" Usagi lit up.

"Let's see if we can draw the monsters in the game," Yugi smiled.

Usagi grinned. "I'm super lucky, it'll be no problem." She could distract herself and Yugi for a few hours until tonight. She had an idea what Ami was considering. It wasn't often that they met in a park at night. There only seemed to be one reason they ever did.

They were going somewhere special.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

About time these two did some fun things. It's only natural the two would revert to games to try to keep their spirits up.

Capsule Monsters Chess, not to be confused with the Capsule Monsters weird OVA, was originally played in 'Season 0' or the earlier parts of the manga before the Duel Monsters series. It was an interesting game that involved getting tiny figures from a capsule machine (which naturally Mokuba rigged because he was a sneaky little twerp at the time). Intriguingly enough, there was a physical version produced even in the US but apparently it was so quickly discontinued it never took off. A pity.


	20. Moon

"I'm pretty sure you've lost your marbles." Otogi rubbed at his mop of messy hair, uncertain that he'd heard them right.

"We should visit the Moon," Ami repeated herself. "The Moon is at the perfect angle and phase. We won't get another opportunity."

Atem had taken control of the shared host. Yugi was certain this involved him, and so he simply relinquished control, sitting in the back of their shared heart and trying to sort out missing memories. "What do you expect to find at the Moon?"

"I want to visit the Moon Palace," Ami informed them. "It's home to a great deal of information, and I hope that perhaps we can revive some memories at the Chamber of Prayers."

"There's really a palace on the Moon." Otogi seemed less than convinced.

"If you can travel into Atem-san's memories in Ancient Egypt, is this so difficult to believe?" Rei pointed out.

Otogi frowned. She certainly had a point, even if he still didn't fully believe there was a palace on the Moon.

"I want to go," Atem confirmed. "I want to see this place that Princess Serenity was so insistent to return."

"I'd like to visit, too," Anzu agreed. "Though I'm not sure how we're going to get there."

"You can leave that to us," Ami reassured them. "We've visited before. We'll need to all join hands so we can reach there together."

In a flash of colorful light and elemental magics, the remaining three senshi transformed. They each joined hands with their friends, alternating between civilian and senshi until they formed a full circle.

"Alright, let's go," Moon nodded. The senshi began to glow, turning into pure light, the civilian friends soon following suit. And before any of the others could ask how this would work, they were soon standing literally on another world.

Before them stretched along walkway of laid bricks, framed by lights and pools that reflected the stars in the sky above them. The outskirts were covered by fields of flowers and trees. At the far end of the walkway was a domed palace, one that looked like it could've been a European cathedral, all decorated in pure white and silver.

"How are we..." Anzu stammered. "How is this even here?"

"Two years ago, when we first awoke, we visited here much the same way," Mercury explained. "It was in ruins back then, destroyed by our own form of Chaos in a massive war between Earth and the Moon. But when we visited, it was Sailor Moon's power that restored it to this, the original form of the Moon Kingdom."

"The Silver Moon," Atem marveled at the place. Certain elements reminded him of his old palace home. "To think this is where Princess Serenity wished to return. It's so quiet."

"There's no longer anyone here," Mars added. "We were all reborn after another sailor guardian essentially reset the world."

"I can't believe I'm really seeing this," Otogi rubbed at his head. Everything he thought he knew about the Moon was completely thrown out the door. Learning about Atem was wild enough. Now he was literally standing on the Moon in a restored ancient palace with three magical girls.

"So much has happened since we were last here," Moon recalled. The last time they had visited the Moon, it was after all five of the inner guardians had gathered for the first time. Shortly after, they battled Beryl and Metallia, achieving their first victory over Chaos. Two years had passed since then. So many battles, so many new friends and enemies. They'd learned of their future, their hopes and dreams, their ambitions. Now they were fighting to protect the present.

"We should head into the palace," Mercury suggested, leading the way down the pathway and into the ornate palace. The walls were white with delicate and ornate decorations. Columns resembling Ancient Greek temples lined the hallways.

Anzu stopped at the grand balcony, peering over the edge. It was surreal, staring out over the balcony, seeing both the restored Moon Kingdom before them and the blue bead of their home planet hanging low in the sky. "Earth is so beautiful."

"I used to look out to Earth all the time on this balcony," Moon recalled. "I'd stand here and admire it, wondering what the planet was like."

"And that lead to you falling to Earth and meeting me," Atem reasoned.

"I would sneak to Earth quite a bit," Moon admitted. She placed a hand on her face, feeling herself blush. "But I think that when we met, Atem-kun, it must've been my first trip to Earth. I guess I got stuck."

"And some red force decided to pursue you," Atem added, recalling the most recent fractured memory. "Red was associated with chaos during my time. It could've been anything after you."

"Seems Chaos really was everywhere even before he first attacked the Moon Kingdom," Mercury reasoned. "We should head to the Eternity Main System, the Palace's supercomputer. Perhaps there's some record of this encounter that can clue us in on what the red force truly is."

The palace stretched out behind them as they entered the rounded room. It was a rather simple room, simple décor on the walls and a sole console standing at the center of the room.

Mercury approached, placing her hands on the console. Projected screens lit up above it, displaying data, several screens, and a virtual keyboard. Mercury reached up, tapping keys and scrolling through data with her finger as if this were the most recent of technologies.

"Kaiba would crap himself if he saw this," Otogi marveled.

"To think an ancient kingdom on the Moon would be this advanced," Anzu also marveled.

"The Eternity Main System powered much of this kingdom," Mercury explained. "It's how we breathe here, how the plants grow, and how the lights never seem to dim. It controls everything from the atmosphere to the gravity and keeps all the records." She scrolled through several screens, tapping on one to spawn another.

Sailor Moon didn't even pretend to understand what Mercury was even doing. She didn't understand computers at all, not even ancient Moon computers. "And you think this computer thingy might have records of when I fell to Earth in the past?"

"It's possible," Mercury replied. During the Silver Millennium, she didn't get the chance to peruse the computer's data. Her tasks mostly concerned the princess, but she'd heard much about what this computer contained and how to access it. She hoped that it would tell something.

"Here, I think I found something." Mercury tapped the window before pushing it to the side. The window grew, showing images of Serenity and Atem in Ancient Egypt. They were speaking with a tall priestess covered in layers of beige linen fabrics.

"I remember this," Sailor Moon pointed out. "This is the last dream I had."

"Priestess Isis," Atem recalled. "She can see visions of the future, thanks to her Millennium Item. She was warning us that the red force wanted the White Moon. That's the last thing I can recall from this, though."

"The information about this encounter continues on, though there's a strange amount of corruption in the file," Mercury informed them. "It seems this is really the only image which remains of this encounter."

"Is there a way to reverse the corruption?" Anzu asked hopefully.

"I think I might be able to, but it'll take time." Mercury turned back to the computer, pulling out her own supercomputer and placing it on the pedestal. "Why not go explore the palace some more while I transfer the data?"

"That's a great idea, c'mon!" Sailor Moon nearly pulled Atem out of the room by the arm. It was her chance to share a part of her past with him, perhaps without a red force pursuing them this far out. She couldn't imagine how any of them could disappear during this time, given that they weren't currently on Earth, which would make this excursion rather safe.

"Is she always this excitable?" Anzu watched Moon drag Atem out the door. If she didn't think this was more a sign of friendship, she might be jealous. Perhaps she still was a little bit. Probably a lot.

Mars simply nodded, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

"I think I'd just like to stare at Earth a bit more," Anzu admitted.

"The most sensible thing I've heard," Mars agreed, following Anzu out the door.

Otogi shrugged, following Anzu and Mars.

"It's wild, honestly," Anzu admitted, leaning on the balcony railing. "I never thought that I'd be standing here, on the Moon, looking at the Earth on a balcony."

"Before I remembered my past life, I would've agreed," Mars agreed.

"And yet here we are," Anzu continued, "standing in an ancient kingdom talking about ancient history that seems to be affecting the present."

"This happens a lot," Mars admitted. "Past, present, future. It doesn't really matter. Chaos always found a way to infect people and affect those in the present. Do you recall the UFO sightings about a year ago?"

"I remember those," Otogi recalled. "Apparently sightings all over Minato-ku for a rather short time."

Mars nodded, recalling the rumors as well. Her friend at the Academy had become obsessed with them, creating a paranormal club to understand them. That didn't last long as the sightings had soon stopped. "They were from the future, from the 10th planet of the solar system. They'd come in search of a descendant of the White Moon who had fled to the past for help. Their visit involved kidnappings and being abducted through time."

"That's uncanny," Anzu stared. She wasn't certain if she were more shocked that there really were UFOs or that people had traveled through time with them to hunt down the White Moon. "Were the kidnapped forgotten as well?"

"They weren't," Mars shook her head. "That's what's so strange about this situation. When the enemy would attack and people disappear, they wouldn't be forgotten. I really think Ami-chan is right. Someone is messing with time."

Anzu stared back at the big blue and green marble hanging low in the sky. "And that's causing us to forget? But I don't understand why you and Atem remember."

"Atem-san is like us," Mars explained. "We exist at multiple points in time, more than what most would. We have our past lives and our present, and in our case, we've also traveled to the future. Atem-san is much like this, existing both in ancient times and in the present. At least that's how Ami-chan explained it."

Anzu pressed the charm between her fingers. Ever since Rei had helped her find a protection charm that seemed to speak to her, she'd kept it on her purse. It was a small fabric charm, decorated by cherry blossoms and one singular small bell.

"A pity that existing across time hasn't helped us stay in _this_ time," Mars added with a frown.

"Surely there's a way to keep us here," Otogi hoped for an answer.

"Find the red force and stop it," Mars replied. "That's the only way this will stop. That should lead us to the others as well." That was how it always seemed to work, and Mars hoped silently that pattern would continue. Hopefully the missing friends wouldn't be turned against them like with Galaxia.

"That sounds like it's easier said than done," Anzu frowned. She watched Moon and Atem scamper across the courtyard, admiring the reflections in the pool. "Those two sure are getting friendly."

"That's just how Usagi-chan is," Mars noted. "Don't worry, she won't steal Atem-san or Yugi-kun from you. She's happily engaged."

Anzu immediately flushed bright red. "It was just an observation!"

"I'm sure," Mars commented. She turned as Mercury approached them on the balcony. "Any news?"

Mercury shook her head. "Nothing substantial other than there seems to be a mention of a god. The data has just been mysteriously corrupted. I'm starting to wonder if this was purposely erased."

Anzu rubbed at her face, the redness finally subsiding. "Why would something this important be erased?"

"My best guess?" Mercury pondered. "This could deal with our hypothesis that this red force is somehow altering time. It could be a result of a corruption of this time. If only we could find Pluto."

"Pluto?" Anzu echoed.

"The guardian of time," Mars explained. "It's likely she's trying to put out any fires that this is causing, if it's time related. I'm hoping she'll find us soon."

"A guardian of time," Otogi marveled. "To think one would exist."

"I considered finding her here, since she exists within and without time, but I have no idea where the Door of Time is actually located," Mercury shook her head. "It's best that we return home for now. I copied what I could recover of the data to my supercomputer. I'll try to see if I can recover it more overnight."

"Could we... perhaps could we stay a bit longer?" Anzu requested. "I want to look at the sky just a bit more."

"I don't see why not," Mars agreed. "We can enjoy the serenity of the place while we have the opportunity."

Mercury stared out at the courtyard, watching their princess scamper around with a pharaoh's spirit. Whatever happened back then, this red force that pursued Serenity all the way to earth, it was a seriously bad situation. Perhaps this force existed across time as well, and that would make it dangerous.

 **...**

 **Author's musings.**

Kaiba would definitely crap himself if he saw the Moon's advanced technology.

Yeah I know that Sailor Teleport requires the five inners, but their magic has improved a lot since the early arcs. They should be able to succeed such a short hop to the moon with just the three of them. Besides. I just really wanted to take them to the moon and have the Yugioh cast just gawk.


	21. Invitation

_"I know you've been trying to analyze all the data from the Moon computer, but Aibou suggested a duel, something to break up the tension."_

Ami had almost rejected the invitation, more focused on the data she'd retrieved from the Eternity Main System. She'd poured over it every night, trying to uncorrupt the data and running it through various algorithms and routines to no avail. They were literally running out of time, and Ami worried that somehow the remaining senshi and friends would soon disappear.

She had tucked her supercomputer and her deck into her purse, taking the subway to Domino. She arrived at the small duel center, one that had private duel rooms set up almost like rooms at a karaoke center. "I suppose a break would do some good. I had been meaning to contact you." She met Atem at the door of the reserved room. She paused, digging in her purse and handing him the supercomputer. "I want you to hold onto this."

Atem stared down at it. "Mizuno-san..."

"I want you to hold onto this," she reiterated. "The situation has gotten a bit tense lately. I have algorithms running on it, and it'll alarm if the data is unscrambled."

"I would've expected you to give this to Usagi-san," Atem reasoned.

"Usagi-chan doesn't understand computers," Ami pointed out.

"That makes sense," Atem reasoned. He hadn't really seen Usagi understanding much technology at all, save video games at the arcades. Ami was the first to learn there were two souls in this body and was the first to try to help directly with the situation. She was intelligent and understanding and somehow always seemed to be three steps ahead. Perhaps this was her contingency plan.

"I'll keep it safe." He tucked it into his pocket. "For now, let's duel and forget our problems for an hour."

Ami was terrible at forgetting problems. However, since her duel with Atem at the end of the convention, she couldn't deny she'd been itching for a rematch. There weren't many who could match her strategic abilities, and Atem certainly seemed like the best to counter her. He'd never lost, and the idea of challenging him enthralled her. She'd never lost a game before either, though it had been primarily classic games like chess and shogi.

Duel Monsters was another beast in and of itself. Unlike chess and shogi, the combination of cards was nearly infinite, with different builds and strategies to accompany each setup. There was the random element that kept it intriguing, and not knowing the opponent's hand that kept her on her toes.

She shuffled her cards in her hand, cutting the deck before placing it on the duel table on her side.

The arena set before them was small, no bigger than about half a tennis court stretched longways in the room. At either end were tables used to read the cards and project them on the holographic field. The technology was a bit older, dating back to the Duelist Kingdom technology, but Atem wanted to ensure the red-suited enemies wouldn't interrupt them, even if just for an hour.

Ami thumbed through the drawn cards in her hand. A decent start, but that could change in the course of the duel very easily. "You're the challenger, your move."

"Draw!" Atem thumbed through his cards. It was hard to tell what Ami was planning. She had a deck breaker build, one that could easily manipulate the field and destroy the placed and held cards even at the expense of her own field. She was ruthless and strategic, quite contrary to her usually reserved demeanor. She meant business, and that was exactly what Atem wanted in an opponent.

 _"That's not a bad start,"_ Yugi commented, leaning over Atem's shoulder.

"We both know she's capable of destroying a hand before it's even played," Atem commented. He stared across the field. Ami had a terribly good poker face. He couldn't even begin to guess what she had in her hand. The heart of the cards could work in both his and her favor. "Doesn't mean she will, however."

He pulled two cards from his hand. "I place this card face down and summon the Black Magician to the field. End turn."

The Black Magician manifested on the field. He was different than the one Ami recalled seeing during the Shadow Game at Kaiba Land though there were still some similar aspects. He didn't seem as animated and as alive as within the Shadow Game, but he still had rather human qualities to him. He stood somewhat casually, his staff held to his side, offering a quick glance back at Atem before returning his focus to the field.

"Draw!" Ami thumbed through her cards. She already had a few good combinations she could use, ones that she didn't get a chance to show during the tournament at the convention center. The matches had been so short she never had a chance to pull out the heavy artillery.

But perhaps she'd lure him into a false sense of understanding her deck. This was a duel, after all, and she was facing the undefeated king of games. "I place this card face down on my field and summon the Fire Princess."

 _"That's the same combination Mizuno-san started with at the tournament,"_ Yugi noted. _"Then again, so is yours."_

"Seems we'll pick up where we left off," Atem agreed. "I'm pretty sure I know what comes next."

And Atem was right, as Ami soon revealed by the spell card in her hand. She placed the spell card down, a light appeared in the Fire Princess's hands. "I use the Breath of Life spell card to give me 100 life points and inflict 500 points damage directly to you, thanks to Fire Princess's special ability!" The fire princess fired off a massive fireball directly at Atem using her tall staff. "End turn."

Atem shielded himself with his arms against the virtual blaze and wind, gripping his drawn cards in his hand. "As expected."

 _"I get the feeling she's trying to lure you into a false sense of security,"_ Yugi observed.

"Of course she is," Atem agreed. "This wouldn't be an enjoyable duel if she just played the same cards each time. The question is, what is that face down card?" He drew a card, thumbing through the cards in his hand once again. Unlike Ami, he didn't have many trap cards that could manipulate the playing field and more focused on reversals and manipulating his own cards. He had the distinct feeling that card could likely undo everything he considered playing in less than a minute.

But Atem wasn't without his own tricks. He had a deck based on strategy around what he could get on the field. He had a new card in his hand that he'd been wanting to use. "I summon Magi Magi Magician Gal to the field. With this card, I can discard one card in my hand and use its effects. I discard Dust Tornado!"

Ami frowned. A clever move. He was trying to plan for the worst she could throw at him, and it seemed the timing was for once in his favor. She displayed the spell and trap cards she had drawn in her hand.

Atem glanced over the displayed cards. "Discard Black Hole." It was one of the cards he'd been hoping to find. That card could wipe the entire field clean in one move. He'd seen her use it during the tournament. She destroyed the field then destroyed her opponent by summoning Fire Princess and using her special ability. Though with the Fire Princess now out on the field, perhaps she would've been more hesitant to use it quickly.

There was one card he didn't see in her hand yet. Cemetery Bomb. That card would deal 100 life points in damage for each card in the cemetery. In order to use Magi Magi Magician Gal's special ability, he had to discard a card each time. It was a risky move on his behalf. That card could appear at any point in the game but fortunately was limited to one per deck. He'd have to end this quickly in order to avoid that card from appearing.

"Magi Magi Magician Gal!" Atem commanded. "Attack the Fire Princess with Black Magic Strike!"

The Magician Gal winked, springing up into action with a smile. She rose her black-colored wand into the sky, black magic summoning at the end before she happily threw it at the Fire Princess. The black magic breezed past Ami, ruffling her hair and slamming into the wall behind her. Her life points dropped due to the difference in strength between monsters, only buffeted by the boost she'd given herself in the previous turn.

"You've activated my trap."

The exact words that Atem had worried about but honestly expected. That face down card could be one of two things, and as he'd expected, it was a trap. What he hadn't expected was what the trap actually was. Ami's duels were so fast at the tournament that he'd barely even seen half her deck. He knew she ran a field-destroying deck supported by elemental princesses, but beyond that, he knew little about what the other half of the deck truly contained.

Ami revealed the face down trap card. "Scrambled Egg. When one of my monsters is destroyed, I can special summon Sonic Chick to the field! This monster cannot be destroyed by a monster with over 1800 attack power!" A small blue duck appeared on the field, dressed in boots and sporting a spit-curl like feather. It reminded her of a magical girl anime she'd watched but denied she had ever seen. While she couldn't attack with the little duck, she could protect her side of the field. She knew Atem focused on powerful monsters. This was her counter.

Atem stared. All the monsters in his hand and on the field had a greater attack power than 1800. She was good. Very good. This was going to be a very enjoyable duel.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

I had to go through sooooooooooooooooo many cards to figure out what they might have in their decks and then coordinate the sequence of this duel. These two are amazing strategists. The intricacies of this duel had to be well planned out

I kept Atem with his magic deck but slipped in a super cute magician girl to go along with the rest

Ami plays with a partially real deck. The elemental princesses don't actually exist (though they are loosly based on various cards), but her destructive cards do (and I think half of them are still banned from when I had once played). Cemetary Bomb was always my favorite card because of how devastating it is. And I had to put the Sonic Chick in her deck because the artwork looks like Duck from Princess Tutu.

Please enjoy this duel!


	22. Magician Boys and Girls

Atem quickly found himself at an impasse. Perhaps temporarily but an impasse nonetheless. The Sonic Duck standing on the other side of the field barely had a passable attack or defense stat, but it had a special ability. It couldn't be attacked by a monster with attack power higher than 1800. All the monsters on the field had a massively high attack power, as did the monsters in his hand. He had intended to crush her, not expecting a small monster with a special ability like this.

However, the Magi Magi Magician Gal had a special ability that would allow him to work around the duck, though it was risky given what cards he knew Ami had in her deck. But he'd already used that special ability this turn, so he'd have to wait. "End turn."

Ami was well aware that the Magi Magi Magician Gal's special ability would throw a wrench into her strategy. But she wasn't without options. If he decided to use the Magician Gal's ability to borrow a monster, she planned to leave him in a bind where he'd never be able to attack her life points directly. Perhaps she'd lose a few monsters here and there, but she'd need to find a card that protected them or one that could wipe the field clean. Atem had already forced her to discard Black Hole, but there were other means to manipulate the field.

On her side of the field, the Sonic Duck danced, swaying back and forth almost as if it were doing ballet. The Magician Gal and Black Magician glanced at each other before simply shrugging.

"Draw!" Ami drew another card. Not Cemetery Bomb but another decent spell card she could use to her favor. She'd save that for later. For now, she'd build up a small arsenal. "I summon Water Princess to the field!" It was her card, the one that she felt spoke to her personally. The summoned princess standing before Ami looked like it normally did when summoned, not the mirror of her past self that appeared during the Shadow Game. "Her special ability allows me to gain 100 life points per turn per monster on my side of the field. That gives me 200."

Water princess didn't have enough attack to take down either magician on the other side, but Ami wasn't exactly counting on that. The princess couldn't rival the attack of either magician, but she wanted to keep the Water Princess on the field as long as she possibly could. The challenge was keeping Atem from targeting the Water Princess and destroying her since the Sonic Duck was well protected by its special ability. She'd just lure him to attack and counter it.

But she had a plan in mind, some spell cards nestled in her hand as she planned to bide her time and cause Atem to stack up more cards in his graveyard.

"I activate the continuous spell card, Refreshing Water. As long as the Water Princess is on the field, I gain 100 life points at the start of each turn."

It had been awhile since she felt this good, like she was actually meeting her equal in something other than studying. Sure she had her obsessive bout in attempting to outdo Mercurius in practice college entrance exams, but this was something else.

Ami was actually having fun.

"End turn."

Atem well knew Ami was trying to lure him into a false sense of security once again. The Water Princess didn't have enough attack or defense to withstand a direct attack, but she was either luring him into a trap or bluffing. He had to rely on the heart of the cards to guide him through this battle. "Draw!"

Well that was a particularly good draw, no doubt guided by the heart of the cards. Atem was particularly bad at having a poker face when he got something he could immediately use, grinning like an excited child at Christmas. "I summon the Black Magician Girl to the field!"

The Black Magician Girl rose up on the field, a peppier, more colorful version of the Magician Gal. She greeted the other two magicians with a warm smile.

"I equip the Black Magician Girl with this spell card!" He placed the card down on the duel table. "Dark Burning Attack allows the Black Magician Girl to use a powerful blast and eliminate all face-up monsters on the side of your field!"

A massive spell circle appeared behind the Black Magician Girl. Her wand began to glow as she raised it over her head then fired a massive blast of magic at Ami's side of the field. It blasted away all her monsters. The Sonic Duck wasn't protected as it was a spell card in play, not a standard attack. Ami shielded herself from the attack and the illusionary wind kicked up by it as her monsters all fell from the battlefield and her life points were blown away.

"End turn."

She could see him smirking across the battlefield. He was enjoying this as much as she was. She was going to have fun with this duel. "Draw!" And there was a perfect card. Perhaps the cards were speaking to her heart, allowing her to put her new strategy into play. It was time for a battle of magicians.

"I summon Chocolate Magician Girl to the field!" Since their last duel, Ami had shuffled a few magicians from her pool to the main deck, leaving a few other cards out. This particular card worked well with her deck, allowing her to manipulate the field much like Atem was attempting to do with his own magicians.

The card was a water type, working well with her own preferred element. She liked the idea of using different elements to work well with each other, all casters and magical in their own right. Perhaps it was her status as a magical girl that had attracted her to the archetype.

The summoned monster now standing before her on the field was particularly cute. She was a different type of magician girl from the ones Atem preferred. Her outfit was cute, black with purple accents, contrasting her bright aqua-colored hair. She played with her wand, ready for a command to strike. "I equip her with the Sugar Wand, which raises her attack power by 500 points. Now, Chocolate Magician Girl! Attack the Black Magician Girl with Chocolate Fountain Strike!"

Atem had to admit that Ami was good with combinations. He honestly hadn't expected her to have a Magician Girl, but he'd also not seen much of her deck during the tournament. She was crafty, but so was he. "You've activated my trap card! Magical Cylinder!" He revealed his face down card he'd placed during his first turn. A large cylinder manifested on the Black Magician Girl's shoulders, absorbing the chocolatey attack then reversing it back to Ami's side of the field.

She had a few options, especially given Chocolate Magician Girl's special ability, but she had a different plan in mind. "Activate spell card, Half Life!" She pulled the spell card from her hand. "This halves the initial attack and you take the difference in life points in damage instead!"

She was fast, Atem had to admit. But he hardly was going to give up just yet. He'd fought Marik's slime deck, defeated and acquired three god cards, and won all the tournaments with his partner. She was good, but so was he.

Ami pulled a card from her hand, placing it on the field. "I place this card face down and end my turn."

"Draw!" Atem pulled a card from the top of his deck, looking over it. It was the perfect card he needed as backup in case Ami managed to draw some field-destroying cards.

 _"She's planning something again,"_ Yugi commented.

"Of course she is," Atem agreed. "She's as crafty as we are. I would expect nothing less from a national chess champion." He glanced across the field. That Chocolate Magician Girl's special ability would allow Ami to pull from her graveyard and use it to defend her magician. It was a good strategy, he had to admit, but he'd have to find another way to take out her side of the field. He had a few cards in the deck that could obliterate her, but he'd have to rely on the heart of the cards to find it.

"Black Magician!" Atem commanded. "Use Black Magic Strike on the Chocolate Magician Girl!" He knew the risk, and he knew Ami's likely response to this. However, the Black Magician was his most powerful card on the field. Even at half attack, he could still cause considerable damage.

"I special summon the Water Princess to block the attack, which is halved by the Chocolate Magician Girl's special ability!"

There it was, the response he'd expected. Even with the attack halved, the Black Magician still whittled away at Ami's life points by destroying the card just barely. He glanced across the field. She seemed completely unfazed by the move. She _was_ planning something.

"I place this card face down," Atem pulled the newly drawn trap from his hand, placing it on the field, "and end my turn."

Ami placed her fingers on her deck. Atem's strategy would likely whittle away at her life points slowly until she was left with none. She was slightly low after previous attacks, but her strategy with the Water Princess had evened the odds so Atem didn't have a life point advantage. It wasn't really much yet.

"Draw." She pulled a card, tucking it in her hand. That opposing field was dangerous, so she'd have to deal with it. She had a number of useful cards in her hand, and if she could pull off the combination, she might be able to defeat the king of games in one move. It was high risk, but when did this game ever work with playing it safe? She could get away with safe moves in chess, but this game was much more strategic and dynamic. She'd have to take the risk. "Activate spell card: Black Hole! This card destroys all the monsters on the entire field."

There it was, the card Atem was waiting for her to use, the card that obliterated her opponents at the tournament. And she had more than one.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Most of the cards this chapter are real, including the Chocolate Magician Girl. The magician girl family is honestly the most intricate family in the game. A number of them have really weird and strategic special abilities that work well for both Atem and Ami.

The Water Princess and the Sugar Wand are the only fabricated cards and they're all a nod to Sailor Moon lore.

I had to fabricate a few attack names because many of these magician girl cards haven't appeared in the anime yet and some of them don't even have an English translation yet either. "Chocolate Fountain Strike" is about as magical girl as a Duel Monsters card attack power could really sound and I love it.

I'm not sure if it's banned now, but before you could have up to three Black Hole cards in your deck.

This duel was incredibly enjoyable to write, especially with how intricately the duelists are. I had to come up with wild strategy and had a dozen notes on who had what card and how many life points. Goodness.


	23. Black Hole

"Black Hole!" It was perhaps one of the most devastating cards Ami had in her deck. The spell card was capable of clearing and resetting the field, and whatever she followed up with could be equally as devastating. She had two, and Atem had already forced her to discard the first.

But Atem had other plans. "Activate trap card: White Hole!" He'd purposely slipped this into the deck before the duel, hoping that he'd draw it at the exact moment to completely reverse Ami's deadly strategy. "This trap card negates the effects of your Black Hole and keeps all our monsters on the field!"

Ami nearly laughed. It was an excellent counter, and perfectly timed too, one she'd really expected from him. If she could easily take down the king of games, it'd be no fun. "I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that."

"You'll find that I'm not so easy to take down," Atem informed her.

"You are as good as they say," Ami admitted. "However, this doesn't mean you've broken my strategy by any means. A good strategist always has a second plan." She pulled a card from her hand, placing it on the field. "I summon the Apple Magician Girl to the field!"

Before her appeared another magician girl dressed similarly to the Chocolate one. Her outfit was a deep red with gold accents and lavender wings. She sported a shorter haircut in a deep purple. She was a fire type and did have somewhat of a resemblance to Rei if she sported shorter hair and looked like a Duel Monsters card. Rei would no doubt object vehemently.

She paused. Rei was probably the only one still here that could object. Half of their group had already gone missing. She shook her head. She couldn't think of that right now. They'd get through all of this and rescue everyone, just like they always did. She couldn't sit and stare at data. It was like trying to watch a pot boil. Perhaps the new algorithm she had running would yield some results. It was also capable of capturing data on the spot and adding it into the pool of data.

For now, she could try to concentrate on the battle before her. She pulled a card from her hand. "Activate spell card: Magicians Unite! This allows both magicians to attack with an additional strength of 300 Attack power! Destroy the Black Magician!"

Atem gritted his teeth. He didn't have anything to counter that. He honestly wasn't expecting a united attack. She really did have a backup strategy up her sleeve. The Black Magician was obliterated, blown away by the combined, definitely magical girl attack of apples and chocolate. Fortunately the Black Magician was strong enough that the difference in attack power didn't completely decimate his life points.

"I'm not done yet!" Ami announced, pulling another card from her hand. "I play another Magicians Unite! Now, my magician girls, take out the Magi Magi Magician Gal!" Another blast of apples and chocolate removed yet another magician from Atem's side of the field.

 _"Mizuno-san is really playing for a victory today,"_ Yugi observed.

"No kidding," Atem agreed. "This is even more ruthless than she was at the tournament, and that's incredibly exciting!" He grinned broadly, clearly enjoying himself in this duel. Sure, there was so much going on elsewise, but right now, it was fun to just enjoy a duel with a strong opponent.

She thumbed through her hand. She had three of those Magicians Unite cards, but she'd only managed to draw two. The attacks left the Black Magician Girl on the field, who was buffed by the Black Magician in the graveyard. She had chosen to take out the Magician Gal instead as her special effect was much more devastating. That Black Magician Girl could still be trouble with those buffed stats.

She'd nearly depleted her hand, only one trap card lay on her side of the field. "I use Pot of Greed to replenish three cards in my hand." She drew the allotted cards, managing to draw the one card she wanted to use. Cemetery Bomb. With how many cards Atem had discarded, that bomb could be devastating, but it wasn't as many as she would've liked. It wouldn't finish him off, but it certainly would do some nasty damage.

She debated on saving it, but a game could turn against her in one move. It was best to use it now and use another counter attack later. "I play one last card. Cemetery Bomb!"

Atem gasped. That card dealt massive damage to him, leaving him with only a handful of life points left. He knew it was her trump card used to deal 100 life points of damage for every card in the graveyard, and perhaps she was feeling the pressure of the battle to use it without being able to fully finish him off. Regardless, the attack was still devastating.

Ami thumbed through her remaining cards before returning her focus across the field. "End turn."

"Draw!" The duel was getting fierce. He didn't have many life points left, nor did he particularly have many cards which replenished it. He held the card out to the side, closing his eyes. He had the perfect magic card in his hand, but he didn't have enough cards in his hand or on the field which could support it. _Heart of the cards, guide me._

He flipped over the card. It was exactly what he needed. There was the challenge of that trap card sitting on Ami's side of the field that had been taunting him for a few turns, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. He'd have to take risks, just like she did.

"I discard one card from my hand to special summon the Apprentice Illusion Magician!" He placed the card on the field. Beside the Black Magician Girl, the Apprentice Illusion Magician sprang up. She looked similar to her counterpart though with an outfit of deep pinks and purples, long dark blond hair, and a staff that looked more like a colorful snail shell.

"But I'm not done yet!" Atem drew a card from his hand dramatically. "Behold, my ultimate card. Ragnarok!"

Ami gasped. That card was legendary and incredibly rare. It was unstoppable and uncounterable and perfect for a magician deck like Atem and Yugi's.

"With this spell card, I remove all monsters from my hand," Atem announced, pulling three cards from his hand and placing them in the graveyard, "to obliterate your side of the field. Now go, my magicians. Use Ragnarok!"

The two magician girls held up their wands together, summoning a massive fireball in the air above the field. In unison, they brought their wands downward in an arcing motion, stopping as they pointed to Ami's side of the field. The two Magician Girls on Ami's side could feel the inevitability of the magic as it barreled towards them. The magic impacted, kicking up holographic dust and wind and debris, throwing it around the small duel arena room. Wind whipped through both sides of the field, causing Atem and even Yugi to shield their eyes.

As the dust settled, Ami's field was empty, her life points depleted.

But Ami herself seemed to be missing, her cards left on the dueling table with a single watch that looked like it came out of a gashapon machine.

Atem stared across the table. Had she disappeared right in front of the under the cover of his Ragnarok spell card?

 _"Where did your opponent go?"_ Yugi stared across the field. There was obviously someone there but they were now gone.

"She disappeared right in front of our eyes." Atem quickly gathered his cards, the two magician girls disappearing from the field when he tucked his deck into his pocket. Rounding the duel field, he leaned over to gather Ami's cards. He paused when he spotted the gashapon watch was sitting on the Water Princess card. Ami had mentioned that card spoke the most to her, that it represented her past self. He picked it up, staring at it. "It's like she knew that she'd be next to disappear."

He quickly gathered the cards and the watch, shoving them into an empty pocket and barreling out the private duel room door.

 _"Other me! Where are you going?"_ Yugi followed but he didn't exactly object to Atem's rushed path.

"There may be time to save her, Aibou," he replied, skidding to a stop at the front counter. "Did you see someone in a blood red suit come by here?" As soon as the clerk pointed towards the side door, Atem took off down the maintenance hallway. The person in the blood red suit couldn't have gotten far. The hallway was thin and poorly lit, practically like the horror movies that Sugoroku liked to watch when he thought that no one else was around.

He skidded to a stop as a rather intimidating man in a blood red suit blocked his path. "Where is she? Where is Mizuno-san?!"

"You'll soon join her!" the man threatened, brandishing a wiry staff with a crook on the end. It emitted a blood red magic that flooded the hallways and cast eerie shadows on the walls. "It's time you perish, Pharaoh!"

Atem took a few steps back. He knew that magic but couldn't remember why. This had to be how they all had fallen. It was an ancient magic that likely could counter his own and right now, he didn't have the best of defenses. "The red force!"

He had to counter it. The Eye of Horus formed on his head as shadows began to overtake the walls. The red magic was pushing against the shadows as it hurtled forward.

" _I won't let you take him!_ " Yugi forcibly pushed Atem out of the shared body, taking the full force of the hit as the red magic overtook him.

The red-suited man sneered. "Finally, I am victorious!" he cackled, drawing the red light back to him and shoving something into his pocket. The staff dissipated but shadows quickly caught his attention. "What, that's impossible!"

Down the hallway stood the Pharaoh he thought he'd taken. The Eye of Horus glimmered on his forehead, his form seemingly rippling with shadow magic.

"Give Aibou back!" he hissed.

The suited man summoned his staff back to his hand. "No more tricks! It's time you disappear!"

Shadows quickly drew over the walls, overtaking the man before he had a chance to attack. "You took Aibou!" Atem hissed. "You're going to pay for taking him and all our friends! Penalty game: mind shatter!"

He seethed as the penalty game took effect, the man crumpling down like a lifeless doll. As the shadows returned to his body, the pain of the situation struck him. Tears rolled down his face as he dropped to his knees. He couldn't take this anymore. These blood-suited men had taken everything dear to him. This had to stop. They had to end this.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

I had to think quite a bit on how I wanted this duel to end. I knew I wanted it epic and down to the wire, both Ami and Atem showing their strongest cards. All the cards here are real, including the Apple Magician.

I've always been intrigued by the Black Hole – White Hole combination. It's something that really is improbable irl but this is fiction. The heart of the cards is a real factor here. So this whole concept started a game of cat and mouse where they try to one-up each other with more and more trap and spell cards until the ultimate comes into play. Ragnarok. Can't quite counter that one.

And a devastating end is an unfortunate but fitting way for Ami to finally be claimed. Maybe one day they'll have an uninterrupted duel.


	24. Markets

Anzu blinked stupidly. Why had she come to the market again? Had she come with someone else? She honestly couldn't remember as she stared at the book in her hand. Ancient Egypt. It honestly wasn't an uncommon subject, especially lately with Atem's memories and whatever else was going on. 'Disappearances' was all she could remember, her mind becoming fuzzy every time she attempted to think of it. She ran a hand through her hair, shoving the book back into her purse, pausing as she saw the photo in the bottom of it. Who were all the people in it? She only remembered Yugi.

"Anzu-san."

Anzu turned. She _had_ been waiting for someone, recognizing the raven-haired girl approaching her. "Rei-san. You look worried. Did I keep you waiting and forget?"

Rei shook her head, taking Anzu by the arm. "There have been more disappearances. Come with me. I've set up some protection spells at the shrine."

She glanced at her purse. That photo she kept there, it must be the disappearances she vaguely remembered. "I just can't remember half of this. I keep feeling like there's something I'm forgetting."

"I'll remind you," Rei added insistently. "Come, we need to hurry. There aren't many of us left."

Anzu frowned but quickly followed Rei. She _was_ forgetting friends, and that was everything opposite of what she considered important. That photo in her bag, the gaps in her memory. She tried to think of what she'd forgotten as they wove through the tangled streets of Shibuya toward the subway station. Azabu-Juuban was a ways away, and the subway was definitely the fastest means to get there.

As they wove through the back streets past a few kimono shops, Anzu finally recalled they had been trying to fight against some red-suited strange people. Perhaps it hit her hard as there was now a rather intimidating one standing in their way. She nearly collided into Rei as the latter suddenly stopped.

The one that stood before them wasn't as non-descript as the rest. He stood tall in a sharp blood-red suit that contrasted the dark browns of his face. His black hair was slicked back, trailing halfway down his back. Unlike the rest, he was noticeably not wearing sunglasses and held a very strange narrow staff with a peculiar crook at the top. His dark, nearly black eyes bore into the pair as they approached. For a moment, Anzu was certain the man had a long tail with a strange U-shaped crook at the end. "Well well, the last two. You came straight to me."

Rei placed herself in front of Anzu defensively. "Who are you and what have you done with our friends?"

The man chuckled deeply. "Well you're going to join them, so you'll be seeing them all soon. In a sense."

Rei didn't like that chuckle. Everything about this man sent her sixth sense into a fit, and she had no plans to stick around and find out exactly why. She had to protect them both. She reached into her shirt, pulling out spell papers and throwing them at the man. "Akuryo taisan!"

The spell papers burst forth in a flurry, sticking to the man and exploding as a means to expel him. Rei quickly grabbed Anzu's arm, dragging her off down a narrow alleyway.

Anzu didn't object, quickly following Rei closely and momentarily glancing over her shoulder. Rei had some incredible magic, and Anzu hoped it would slow the man down. "Are we really the last two left?"

"Seems that way," Rei frowned. "They must've gotten to Ami-chan and Otogi-san."

Anzu wrinkled her nose. "I can't recall those names. They must be gone, too. We've really lost everyone."

"We'll need to find Usagi-chan and Yugi-san," Rei reasoned. "We need to protect them, to keep these red-suited men from finding them."

Anzu stared at the walls as they ran. "Who is Yugi-san?"

Rei stopped dead in her tracks, Anzu quickly colliding with her. "What do you mean? You can't remember Yugi-san?"

Anzu stared at Rei wide-eyed in fear.

Rei stared back. "Do you remember Atem-san?"

"I do," Anzu nodded still with a shocked expression pulling at her features. "We were supposed to protect him, right? Someone is after the Pharaoh and Princess Serenity. But how does this Yugi fit into this?"

"He and Atem shared a body," Rei furrowed her eyebrows. "They are two separate people. They must've pulled the wrong person out of time or that Yugi-san may have done it to protect Atem-san. He's a lot like Usagi-chan. I wouldn't put it past him."

"I can't believe I've forgotten someone so important," Anzu worried as her face twisted in a knot. She could feel herself stewing, upset that she'd forgotten so many people. Almost all the names Rei just listed off were unfamiliar to her now.

"We need to stay here so that we can help protect who's left." Rei pulled at her communicator watch. "Usagi-chan. Can you hear me?" She frowned with the lack of response, though she honestly had expected it with everything that was going on. "She's probably moping. We'll need to find her and get back to Azabu-Juuban somehow. C'mon. Let's go." She tugged at Anzu's sleeve. Rei peered around as they moved through the tight network of alleyways, her senses warning her of something nearby. Ducking behind some bicycles, she peered around the wall, finding the pathway clear.

As they turned the corner, red light blasted forward, kicking up the leaves and dust as it pummeled the two. Fire burst outward. Mars stood strong as the fire returned, curling around her body like a fiery snake. They had to stay alive. They had to protect the others. They couldn't fall here.

"A fiery one, aren't you?" the man chided. "But I would expect that coming from the guardian of Mars."

"You seem to know who I am already. So who are you?" Mars demanded. "It's impolite not to introduce yourself."

"You Japanese and your politeness," the man shook his head. "I have no reason to explain anything to you. You're just a pawn in the way."

Mars narrowed her eyes as she watched him carefully. He certainly acted all high and mighty. Perhaps this man was the true red force, the one commanding all the other suits. She extended a hand, the other drawn back as a bow and arrow formed between them.

"Arrogant," she scoffed. "I am the guardian of flame and passion. I'll chastise you until you tell me what we need!"

She pulled the bow taut, releasing a massive arrow of fire. This man was definitely threatening, and he could easily back it up. He shifted his stance, moving the staff in front of him and completely blocking her arrows.

Scoffing again, she released the bow and began to throw spellpapers at him. "Akuryo taisan!" As he blocked her attack again, she threw out another "Burning Mandala!" and another "Fire soul bird!" and another flame sniper just to try to mix things up.

The man looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Are you done yet?"

Mars sucked in a strained breath. That was every attack she could think of, every magical spell she ever knew, and he blocked every single one. This wasn't any normal enemy.

His face contorted into a rather insidious smirk. "Let me show you the power of a god."

Instinctively, Mars turned, shoving Anzu down the alleyway as the burst of red magic barraged her and threw her down the street. She hit the ground hard, rolling several times before colliding with a yukata display and some potted plants.

"Mars!" Anzu shouted as she stood up. The guardian wasn't moving and the red-suited man didn't seem to be done, throwing off several more attacks.

His hand fell to his side as he finally ceased the attacks, sneering at the lifeless body. "Such foolishness." he chided, now turning his attention to Anzu. "Now that the so-called guardian is out of the way, it's time I dealt with you."

Anzu backed up in the alleyway as the red-suited man approached her. "Stay away from me and my friends!" She brandished her purse. Unlike the others, she wasn't magical nor was she even sure if she had a past life. This weird red-suited man had just trashed one of the most powerful people she knew and now he was coming for her.

She had no idea what she could do but she had to survive. She had to stay here to help Atem and Usagi and Rei. She had to find the others. She had to remember them.

She brandished her purse over her head, photos and a deck falling out. She stared at them for a moment. "D-duel! Let's have a duel!"

The man frowned. "You're kidding, right?"

Anzu puffed up. "I'm not. Let's duel!" That was what the red-suited people had done the first time. Sure she wasn't the greatest of duelists, but she could hold her own in a game. She understood the heart of the cards and had built one around ones that spoke to her. Sure, she wasn't championship material but she also was no slouch. "That's how you all decide things, right?"

The man looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Just who do you think I am?"

Anzu puffed up some more as she took another step backwards. "Well you haven't actually told us yet, so I honestly wouldn't know."

The man sighed. "This is ridiculous. What is it with that pharaoh's little posse that thinks everything can be solved by a card game? I am a god."

"We've already fought gods," Anzu brandished her purse again. "And we won." This man was definitely on the level of Yami Malik creepy but he seemed to have a lot more power to back it up. She took another step back as the man approached, his shoes digging into the photo of everyone she'd dropped earlier. Clouds began to overtake the sky, a sudden rain pouring down on the city. Typical. She was in some stereotypical anime where the best friend was just going to die.

Some best friend she was. Forgetting everyone.

But Anzu wasn't the type to mope long. She hadn't forgotten her conversation with Rei, their shared goal to save their friends somehow. She didn't understand magics or the Moon Kingdom nor did she transcend time like the rest of them. But she had a heavy purse. She held it high over her head like a weapon.

"You've never fought someone like me," the man threatened, brandishing the staff once again. It began to glow with red magics.

This was it, wasn't it? It was her time to disappear.

 **...**

 **Author's notes**

This chapter takes place roughly about the same time as the duel between Atem and Ami. There aren't many friends left and those who remain are trying to protect the rest. Anzu isn't magical, unlike those who are still here, but she will fight off a god with her purse if she has to.


	25. Lost

The rain beat down on the window as Usagi lay nearly lifelessly in bed. She stared at the card in her hand. Moon Mirror Shield. It was a spell card Mamoru had specifically picked out for her and sent to her. She really hadn't figured out how to use it but she treasured it anyway.

But when she called to thank him for it, that's when her heart broke. Mamoru had disappeared.

She knew she shouldn't sit and mope all day. She knew she had to do something to stop this. But everything about the situation felt futile. They were no step closer to figuring out what was going on or who the new enemy was. The dreams had quieted. She felt in the dark.

Her bag beeped across the room. She knew that sound. It was an emergency. She had to will herself to move, to keep her spirits about her. It was hard. There were so few people left, everyone being pulled through time and no one could explain it.

She rolled out of bed, getting tangled in the comforter before squirming free as she heard Rei's voice. She reached for the bag, pulling it off the hook and digging through it. The call had stopped, the watch seemingly dead. "Rei-chan?!" Her face twisted with worry as no response spoke back to her. "Ami-chan? Anyone?!"

This wasn't good. Huffing, she pulled on a dress and a raincoat, stumbling down the stairs.

"Don't forget a raincoat!" her mother called out from the kitchen.

"I'm prepared, Mama!" Usagi shouted back as she discarded her house shoes for her outside shoes at the front door. She peered at Luna for a moment before pulling her bag over her shoulder and opening the door.

She stumbled out into the rain and puddles, nearly tripping on her own two feet as she saw someone standing at the gate. "Yugi-kun?"

He looked a mess. His hair was wet and looked like a drooping star, his clothes clinging to him as he held onto something blue tightly.

Usagi knit her brow. "What happened, Yugi-kun?"

"Aibou is gone," Atem squeezed his eyes shut. "He sacrificed himself to protect me after they took Mizuno-san." He hit the wall with his hand. "I'm sorry. I don't know how they got to her. We were dueling and-"

She quickly cut him off, drawing him into a tight hug as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I think we're the last two left. I can't reach Rei-chan and even Mamo-chan is gone."

He quickly drew her tight, the pain of the situation eating at him. Her hug felt comforting even though everything felt so grim and hopeless. He leaned into her, his voice muffled in the collar of her raincoat. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. I really don't know," Usagi replied. "We've faced so many enemies before, so many that have tried to kill or kidnap my friends, but this one? I'm at a loss. We don't know anything about the enemy or who it is."

"We might have a clue," Atem admitted, gripping the blue thing tightly in her hand. "Before we dueled, Mizuno-san gave me her computer."

"I don't know anything about her computer," Usagi confessed.

"I know enough from Aibou," Atem added. "We should be able to figure it out."

"Okay." Usagi finally released him, rubbing at her face. "Let's get inside and get you dry."

…..

Atem stood awkwardly at the edge of the room. Usagi's bedroom was very pink and decorated with bunnies, but that was just it. It was her _bedroom_. He felt awkward as he rubbed at his wet hair with a particularly pink towel. He hadn't even been to Anzu's bedroom. He rubbed at his face, slightly flushed by the situation but still deeply concerned about the recent turn of events.

"Sorry, this is really the only place we can talk." Usagi closed the door behind them after Luna padded in and hopped onto the bed. "My family doesn't remember any of my friends or Mamo-chan. They don't understand magical things either."

Atem nodded. He could understand the notion pretty well. He couldn't exactly go around telling people he was a 3000 year old pharaoh's spirit either. Folding the towel, he sat on it to keep the carpet from getting too wet as he placed Ami's computer on the table. She mentioned running algorithms on it, and that she believed he would understand them. He liked to think he could figure out a lot of things, but algorithms wasn't quite on the list.

But as he opened up the computer, several screens popped up in completely legible Japanese. "This must be the data from her disappearance. It looks like it picked up my encounter as well."

Usagi settled down next to him, peering confused at the computer. "I don't get it."

Atem poured over the information. "It looks like this magic _is_ time-related. When I was struck with that red light, that must've been what pulls people through time."

"So someone _is_ messing with time," Usagi somewhat understood. She could imagine that Pluto was very upset with this and likely trying to track this person down. Hopefully she'd be able to help. Usagi hadn't seen her recently. "Where are they going? Does it say?"

Atem squinted at the screen. "It looks like they've never left the present. That doesn't make any sense."

"They've been pulled through time but not?" Usagi squinted at the screen.

Atem tapped at a few keys, trying to bring up more data. "Looks like there's signs of time magic, but it's almost like the people we're missing have been suspended somewhere between time. Those of us who survived Ancient Egypt were suspended in a sense as well until we were reawoken in the present. Perhaps it's similar."

"I don't get it. That sounds too sciency to me," Usagi placed a hand on her brooch. "But we've been pulled through time before, even through the galaxy. There must be a way we can find them. Even if they're dead, we can save them."

Atem hadn't expected so much hopefulness from someone who still had tears streaming down her face. Ami had mentioned that Usagi was much stronger than she let on, and Atem was finally seeing it. He picked up the mini computer. "Perhaps we somehow can. There's something running right now that is trying to track the missing people. It's got some sort of locator here, but I'm not sure where it is."

She stared at it some more. "It looks like it's close to the bay." Standing up, she rummaged through her desk, pulling out a map of the area. She compared the computer map to the one with all the bus routes. "Tsukiji is close to the shore. They have really good street food. I went there with Mamo-chan once."

Atem glanced at the map then at the screen. "That looks like it's near Domino." He squinted at the screen. "If this magic's Ancient Egyptian like I think it is, the best place to look is the Domino Museum."

Usagi stood up, pulling an umbrella from her closet. "Let's go then! If there's a chance we can save them before this red enemy gets any stronger, then I want to take it."

"Agreed." Atem folded up the computer, shoving it into his pocket. "The museum also tends to have Ancient Egyptian artifacts. We may find some information on the red force since Mizuno-san's computer seems to still be trying to interpret the Moon's information."

Usagi grabbed her bag, letting Luna jump into it before grabbing an umbrella and scampering downstairs. "We're going out, Mama!"

"Don't forget an umbrella for your friend too, Usagi-chan!" Ikuko called back.

"I got it covered, Mama!" Usagi called back as she slipped on her shoes.

The trio quickly made it to the Azabu-Juuban station then after a complicated series of subway transfers, finally made it to the Domino prefecture. With Atem's instructions, they soon arrived at the Domino Museum, the rain still pouring around them.

"This place is really creepy at night," Usagi confessed, placing a hand on her brooch nervously. "It looks like the shadows are moving."

"They are," Atem frowned, peering up the stairway towards the entrance. "You're here, aren't you? Attracted by the shadows and the magics."

"Well well well," the voice echoed from the shadows as a ring began to glow in the night. "I was starting to wonder if you'd lost your touch, Pharaoh- _sama_."

Usagi watched the shadow cautiously, barely able to make a form out in the darkness. "Who is that?"

"Another spirit like me, a self-proclaimed King of Thieves," Atem replied. "Not a particularly good one."

"Oh you wound me, Pharaoh!" the thief king jeered. "And after I've gone through all this trouble to _help you_."

"Really," Atem seemed less than convinced.

"I've been cleaning up the mess since this all started," the thief king stepped out of the shadows, winding a finger around the twine holding the Millennium Ring. "Though I have to admit, you left some of those red suited goons in quite a mess with that Penalty Game. Didn't think you had that in you anymore."

Atem frowned. It wasn't his best moment. He'd got angry and lashed out, though he was feeling pretty much the same way right now. Everyone was gone, fallen to some sort of time magic that no one could explain. He was irritated. He scowled at Bakura. "What do you mean, _cleaning up_?"

"If it weren't for me, these red-suited goons would've escaped with the souls of your dear lost friends," Bakura held up a finger at Atem as if taunting him. "Besides, it'd be no fun if you weren't yourself when I finally moved to kill you myself."

Atem frowned even more sharply. He wasn't sure how to exactly respond to that statement.

The Ring's spirit descended the stairs, not even bothering to care that the rain was now drenching his host. "You see, only the great Bakura-sama can kill the Pharaoh! I can't let some ancient _wannabe_ move in and take you from me. Some self-proclaimed god thinks he can outdo me. Can you believe that?"

Atem frowned even more at the haughty spirit, standing between him and Usagi defensively as the thief king pulled something out of his pocket.

"Oh don't get your cape in a bunch," the thief king laughed as he offered Atem some peculiar-looking Duel Monsters cards. He offered the pair a rather haunting grin before turning on his heels and stalking off down the sidewalk. "Don't die on me until I can kill you myself, Pharaoh- _sama_. Kyahahahahahahaha!"

Atem watched him go, a concerned look pulling at his features. "That went better than I expected."

Usagi stared at the figure as it faded into the pouring rain. "Was that… Bakura-kun?"

Atem nodded. "He's possessed by the Ring's spirit, someone dangerous from my own time. Normally he tries to make me miserable but this time, I'm not so sure."

Luna peered out of Usagi's bag. "What's on those cards he gave you?" She leapt up, draping herself over Usagi's shoulder.

Propping the umbrella up on his shoulder, he turned the cards over and nearly dropped them. On the fronts of the cards were stylized drawings of their missing friends. "Pulled out of time but not leaving the present!"

Usagi stared as he thumbed through each one. "It's our missing friends! Even Naru-chan and Mamo-chan are here. But Anzu-chan and Rei-chan are missing from the deck!"

More from his circle of friends had fallen victim too. Even Kaiba was among the fallen. "They must still be here somewhere," Atem reasoned. "The red force must've not reached them yet." He considered the thief king's words carefully. Someone who called himself a god. The ancient gods died out long ago and were immortalized as Duel Monsters cards. There were some major gods who hadn't been, so it must be one of them. But which one could jump through time? Or perhaps this one was reborn here much like the reincarnations of his priests.

"We need to find them," Usagi agreed. "Ami-chan's computer is capable of tracking people. Maybe we can figure out where they are while we travel to Rei's shrine. If anywhere, she'll be there."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Finally, the location of the missing friends is revealed! Yami Bakura has been a busy little spirit, gathering the cards since the red suited-weirdos were first taking people quite some time ago. Atem simply didn't realize their friends were pulled out of time but not and stuck in jacket pockets of red-suited weirdos with greasy hair even though he'd encountered several of them with soul cards.

Yami Bakura is a joy to write. He's weird and twisted and I was pretty close to having him lick the cards but he seems to like licking sharp things and bloody things more than cards. I'd imagine cards don't taste good (not that his usual choice of licked items does?)

It also seems like Anzu and Rei are still alive, but for how long?


	26. Time interrupted

Anzu squeezed her eyes shut, holding her purse up like a shield and wishing for a miracle. The situation was dire. The rain was pouring down, Mars was badly hurt, and now this monster who called himself a god was going to remove her from time.

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard magic fire off with some haunting whisper that sounded like it came from a woman. She opened her eyes, peering around her purse to find someone with long dark green hair and a large silver staff was standing in front of her. She was a sailor senshi, judging by the familiar attire, but one Anzu hadn't seen yet. She and the senshi were now surrounded by a red sphere that protected them from the onslaught of the suited man.

"You've been messing with time, Set," the sailor guardian threatened.

"Set?" Anzu echoed. She knew that name. That was the Ancient Egyptian god of chaos. Was that man in the red suit with the slicked back hair really an ancient god? He looked more like a magical, time-altering yakuza, but as Anzu thought that description in her mind, an ancient god didn't seem so weird.

"Ah, the guardian of time," Set withdrew his staff. "I was wondering when you'd show up, Hauhet or whatever you're calling yourself these days."

"Sailor Pluto," she replied sharply. "You know well that toying with time will incur my wrath."

"Have I truly though?" Set countered haughtily.

"You've removed people with time, altered the past, and traveled to the present," Pluto listed off his crimes. "For that, you'll pay with your life. I cannot allow anyone to alter the flow of time."

Anzu clutched her purse. It was like watching two gods argue. This Sailor Pluto must be immensely powerful, but Usagi had mentioned before that Pluto was the literal guardian of time.

Set outstretched an arm, summoning several red suited people to his side.

Pluto looked unimpressed, taking her staff to her hands and brandishing it out to the side. With a twist of her wrist and a simple command, "Dead Scream," she dispatched of several of the suits.

"You're as powerful as they say," Set applauded her. "To think that the goddess of eternity would be so powerful. Then again, it's said you control time itself."

Pluto didn't bother acknowledging the statement. He seemed to be stalling. She shifted, pointing the Garnet Rod at Set directly. "Where are the missing souls?"

A smirk tugged at his lips. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"I don't bargain with those who wish to alter time," Pluto threatened. He knew where the missing souls were, and he was going to try to hold it over her. She expected this, but there were ways to handle those who broke the rules of time. Even her reborn self who wasn't as cut and dry still could stand on the same ground as a god of chaos.

"Perhaps they will be lost," Set taunted her with a haughty shrug. "Or perhaps you'll have to figure out how I did it." He drew his head back in a cackle of laughter. With a flick of his wrist, the remaining summoned red suits burst into puffs of smoke, obscuring Pluto's view for a brief moment. The smoke dispersed quickly in the rain, leaving Pluto to scowl at the empty street.

Anzu stared at the scene. Pluto was powerful enough that Set actually fled. "You saved us….." Anzu managed to say. Handling Ancient Egyptian spirits reborn in the present was one thing. Magical girls who controlled time and could frighten an ancient god was another.

Then reality hit her. "Mars!" Anzu wedged herself past Pluto cautiously before rounding the corner and finding the fallen senshi. "Thank god that weirdo didn't take her." She placed a hand on Mars. The guardian was badly beaten after being thrown down the alleyway. "Wake up. Don't die on me. You're one of the last friends who hasn't disappeared yet! We still need to protect everyone!"

Pluto knelt down next to her, placing a hand on Mars as well. "She's still alive. It isn't her time to die."

Anzu peered at Pluto. When she wasn't threatening Set, she seemed pretty personable, much more human and much less like a goddess of time. "I feel bad. She was hurt because she was trying to protect me."

Pluto peered back at Anzu, her crimson eyes focused on her. "You are a friend of the timeless pharaoh."

She nodded with sadness in her eyes. "He's the only one of our friends I can still remember. The rest have disappeared, or so I keep hearing."

Pluto continued to peer at her, seemingly considering something but not speaking it in words. She turned back to Mars. "We'll need to get somewhere safe, somewhere out of the rain."

"We'll get a lot of attention if we carry her," Anzu wondered. "Those red-suited weirdos keep finding us, and I don't have any ability to fight this magic business."

"Leave that part to me." Pluto tipped the staff sideways, the orb glowing brightly. "Take my hand. This may be disorienting."

She nodded, taking Pluto's offered hand and squeezing it tightly as the red orb surrounded them once again.

"Garnet Orb," Pluto commanded almost in a whisper, whisking the trio off to the safety of the Hikawa Shrine into a room Anzu immediately recognized.

"The room with the fire," Anzu observed. It was the same room where she and Rei had their talk about the situation and charms. A tea set sat empty on the table. The treat plates were empty and clean. She recalled the serenity and mystical feeling this place held. Rei had spoken of protection if one believed in its power, and right now, Anzu wanted to believe in it badly. Friends were the ultimately most important thing to her and most of them were missing.

Pluto knelt down, placing pillows underneath Mars to keep her comfortable. "This place has mystical powers. You'll be safe here." She stood up, fumbling for a small darkly colored watch that seemed to appear out of her outfit from somewhere. "Usagi-chan."

" _Se-setsuna-san?!_ " Usagi's voice came over the communicator.

Pluto nearly sighed in relief hearing her voice. She was still safe. The situation would definitely be worse if Set had somehow gotten his hands on the princess. "Do you know how to find the timeless pharaoh's spirit?"

" _He's with me right now,_ " Usagi replied.

"Come to the Hikawa Shrine," Pluto instructed. "I have two of your friends here. We need to discuss the situation."

Usagi gasped. " _We're heading there now! I'm so glad that at least some of our friends haven't disappeared! We'll be there shortly!_ "

…

Usagi sat next to Mars, her silver crystal drawn from her brooch and held over her fallen friend. The white light enveloped the fiery senshi, slowly healing her wounds.

"These are the cards we received from the Ring's spirit," Atem placed them on the table. "Can you tell us more about them?"

Setsuna picked up the cards, turning them over in her hands. She could feel the magic emanating from them. "So this is how he's done it."

"This is the result of an ancient god, isn't it?" Atem reasoned.

"It is," Setsuna nodded. "He's violated the laws of time but knew I couldn't eliminate him with these souls currently missing. They are indeed the souls of your friends, pulled outside of time. I believe that he planned to use their power to finish something he failed to do in your time."

"My time?" Atem questioned. "My memories are fractured. I can't actually remember what happened."

Setsuna thumbed through the cards. "Are you familiar with the battle between Horus and Set?"

"How the god of chaos stole Horus's left eye, the Moon, and damaged it?" Atem recalled. "It is part of my people's history." Everyone knew the tale, a story from the time when the gods ruled the earth itself. During a battle for the throne, Set took Horus's eye, the Moon, and divided it into pieces. While the Moon was repaired, it never shone as brightly as it once did.

The Moon was a symbol of power and protection. Set's actions were considered very cruel and vile.

"The part which is forgotten is that he attempted this twice," Setsuna explained, "but instead of trying to shatter the Moon itself, he attempted to take Sefkhet."

"The goddess of the moon?" Atem recalled the name.

Setsuna nodded. "For generations, the Serenity line has been worshipped as the moon goddesses just as the pharaohs were revered as embodiment of Ra, the sun. He attempted to destroy both the sun and the moon at the same time but was thwarted by your priests and Princess Serenity's guardians."

"So that's how the Black Magician recognized Princess Mercury in the shadow game," Atem reasoned.

"That is how the true history is supposed to go," Setsuna continued. "Set has taken the key players out of time and is attempting to change time itself, likely at that very moment."

"Then us remembering what happened in dreams. We're trying to remember so we can stop it?" Usagi wondered.

"Likely," Setsuna agreed. "Your dreams have always been prophetic and important, Usagi-chan. We need to stop him before he changes the true timeline, but I cannot alter time directly. It is forbidden."

"Setsuna-san," Usagi worried. "I don't want you taking your life to fix things again."

Setsuna shook her head. "While I would willingly sacrifice myself yet again to fix time, you and Small Lady would be devastated. Fortunately there are ways to change time that do not violate the law of the flow of time." She opened her hand, revealing a small key. "I do not need to change time directly for this to work. You two can fix it for me."

"A key?" Atem stared at it.

"It looks like a small version of your staff," Anzu peered at it as well.

"A time key," Setsuna explained. "It allows you guided passage through the gates of space and time. Without it, you would be lost in the space between time forever. This key will take you back to the exact point I believe Set is trying to change. However, instead of traveling as yourselves, you'll _become_ your past selves so that Set doesn't realize what we're doing."

"That's actually pretty brilliant," Anzu remarked.

Usagi looked puzzled. Time travel before always involved traveling through that rift and being there as herself. She never thought it possible to _become_ her past self instead of just risking _encountering_ her.

"It will only work for Usagi-chan and Atem-san," Setsuna added. "You're the only two I can safely place in that timeline."

Atem stared at the key some more, considering the proposal. "This'll be before I even fully realized my power. How are we supposed to fight Set as he's pulling people out of that time with our allies missing?"

"You will still have all your present knowledge," Setsuna replied. "And you have these cards. They are the souls of your friends, but friends always help those in need."

"We'll do everything we can to help save them and protect time," Usagi confirmed, despite her bewilderment on how this all would even work. "Even in the most dire of situations, it's our friends who get us through the darkness and into the light. We'll definitely be victorious."

"Usagi-san is right you know," Anzu placed a hand on Atem's. "I can't remember everyone anymore, but I do remember that friendship was important to us. I'm sure it still is."

"It is," Atem agreed. "You all helped me recover my lost memory and name despite how difficult it was. And it wouldn't be the first time our friends have been trapped in games. Alright, let's do this. Let's stop Set so we can all be together again."

"I'll stay here with Mars," Anzu added. "We'll wait for your return."

"Once you correct time, you'll be pulled back to the present" Setsuna explained. "Make sure to keep these keys with you so that you do not get lost in between." She placed another key on the table. "When you're both ready."

Usagi nodded, standing up and taking the key, Atem following suit. "Alright, let's save time."

 **...**

 **Author's notes**

Get in the car, we're going to Ancient Egypt!

Well well! The villain finally has a name! And he's kind of a douchebag. When I looked up some Egyptian Myths to tie everything together, I found references to the Moon and Set repeatedly. Sometimes he's a good guy, sometimes he wants to shatter the moon and eviscerate someone. What a flippant guy!

So when planning the villain for the story, Set seemed like the perfect candidate. He is associated with red, which is why all his minions wear blood red suits, and floods, which is the reason for the rainstorm at the very beginning of this story.

Hauhet is the goddess of eternity. I couldn't find an actual god of time in Egyptian mythos, so I went with eternity to represent that Pluto is an eternal guardian of time.


	27. Egypt

Usagi opened her eyes. Traveling across time could always be a bit disorienting but perhaps more so was where they'd ended up. She was curled up, a mess of white chiffon and silk entangled with purple robes and jewelry. "Atem-kun?" She poked the purple robe.

He stirred, shifting as he turned over. "Time travel is more disorienting this time than I expected," he confessed, rubbing at his head. He was covered in gold and lapis jewelry, decorated in full Egyptian regalia. The cards of their friends were sticking out of his sash and the time key was connected to his necklace tucked into his tunic. "Are you alright, Usagi-san? I should probably call you Serenity."

"That was my name at the time," Usagi nodded. She'd heard it enough that she answered it like her own name. Hearing Atem call her Serenity was a bit different than the other guardians saying it. It felt strangely familiar and nice. She shook her head. "But there's something I don't get. Why are we in a pot?"

Atem laughed a bit. "I had a bad habit of hiding in a pot when I wanted to avoid something."

Usagi laughed as well. "That's funny! I used to hide in the gardens or escape to Earth for the same reason! Seems we weren't that different as our past selves, huh."

"Seems we both liked to shirk responsibility at times," Atem admitted. "I must be pretty young. I stopped doing that after a while."

"You do look younger," Usagi pointed out. "Maybe what, 13?"

"I became Pharaoh pretty young," Atem explained. "It must be early in life after my father died from an illness. I had no idea what was doing when I started. Only a few years later, everything falls apart." He frowned, staring at the side of the pot. He knew what would come soon to his home and his friends as they were pulled into a war of darkness and gods.

Usagi furrowed her eyebrows in worry. "We can't change that aspect of time."

"I know," Atem understood. "Part of me wishes to tell them, but I know if things are altered, I'll never meet Aibou or any of my friends or even you. Things would be very different."

"And Setsuna-san would be angry," Usagi added. "She's very strict about the flow of time."

"We'll need to play along and not let on that we're from the future," Atem agreed. "That doesn't mean I cannot enjoy seeing my home once again."

"I get that," Usagi nodded. "I feel that way when we visit the Moon Palace."

" _Pharaoh, are you hiding again?"_

Atem stood up sharply in the pot, nearly tripping over the tangle of dress and capes. "A-ah, Priest Mahad. I uh… I needed time to think."

The priest took a knee before his childhood friend, the hot sunlight glistening on the Millennium Ring and the jewelry on his robes. "I've been looking for you. I thought I might've found you here."

Usagi managed to untangle herself, standing up next to him though nearly tripping out of the pot in the process.

Mahad flushed a bit. "Were you…. I uh….. Oh gods, did I interrupt something?"

"It's not like that!" Atem quickly refuted, blushing profusely. "W-we were just taking a moment to think that's all!"

Usagi flushed red for a moment before becoming fixated on the Ring. It was the same Ring that thief king had worn, but Atem was hardly hostile towards the priest. Instead he seemed very familiar and friendly.

Atem stepped out of the pot, offering a hand to help Usagi out as well. "Is something the matter? Did I forget some sort of responsibility?"

Mahad smiled a bit. "Not this time. You asked me to find you if learned anything about the red force trying to attain the Moon."

"Yes," Atem feigned remembering. "Did you learn of anything?"

"I did," Mahad nodded. "The Temple of Sefkhet was desecrated overnight. I traveled there this morning to find a great darkness had overtaken the depths of the temple. Dark as moonless night and particularly cold. There was a strange amount of sand piled up as well."

Atem knit his brow. It was possible that this was Set's work, particularly with the temple that was desecrated. Perhaps the vengeful god had already begun his work here in this time, but they hadn't arrived too late yet. "Do you know what magic may have caused this?"

"I'm not sure," Mahad shook his head, "but it was so dry, I could feel the lightning magic spark in my fingertips." He paused, staring up at Atem for a moment and seeing the worry on his liege's face.

Atem wanted to suggest something but he wasn't sure how much he could actually say without altering things. He also debated on if she should tell them so they would be prepared. "What do _you_ think is the cause, in your magical opinion?"

Mahad studied him for a moment, seeing some sort of internal debate going on in his liege's mind but staying silent about it. "In my magical opinion, this feels like Set with the dryness and the red sands. I haven't mentioned this to anyone yet. Priest Seto and Priest Shada are there now. They may realize this as well."

Atem frowned a bit, debating on what to say. He had so much knowledge they didn't but he needed to give them the advantage. He couldn't remember the full history here, and it was possible that he wouldn't until this was all over. "I had worried this might happen," he finally spoke. "I had a feeling when Priestess Isis mentioned red that it might lead to Set."

Mahad wrinkled his nose a bit. "The Moon falling, the red sand, the dryness. It's coming together, isn't it? A second attempt at shattering the Moon itself. If that happens-"

"It won't," Atem cut him off. "We'll find a way to stop Set and return Serenity to the Moon. We cannot let Set take control of Egypt. We all know the chaos he'd bring to our lands."

"We can't let that happen to your people," Usagi worried. It was like Setsuna had said. Set had attacked Egypt and everyone came to the rescue. Right now, however, those people were missing. At least some of Atem's priests seemed to be here. Perhaps they'd arrived before the disappearances started.

"I don't want to see the people suffer that either," Mahad agreed.

Atem pursed his lips together for a moment. "Do you know of any information that might help us find Set or counter him before he reaches us?"

Mahad thought for a moment. "I believe there may be something in the catacombs. Mana is there studying." He stood up, towering over the princess and the pharaoh by a foot as he turned towards the entrance to the palace. "Some of the ancient scrolls may have an answer. I asked Mana to locate some when I feared that Set may be the cause."

Mahad lead the two down a hallway framed by a small lotus pond and the inner palace. The air was hot and arid, the skies blue and cloudless with the pale crescent moon hanging low in the sky. The place was surreal. It looked like the pictures Usagi looked at when she was attempting to study ancient history but more beautiful than she'd imagined. A few people in wraps and tunics tended the gardens in the courtyards as they passed.

They soon entered a stairwell carved into stone and leading downwards. The walls were decorated in hieroglyphs and seemed to be detailing some manner of story. Usagi ran a hand over the carvings, feeling the fresh grooves in the sandstone.

"They tell the story of how Egypt was created," Atem replied to the silent question. "We were all born from the lifeless waters of chaos called Nu. The pyramids were first to emerge, and with the light given to us by the sun god Ra, my ancestors first were born. Then came the people who filled the lands with their life."

"That's so cool." Usagi stared at the walls. Ami would definitely be jealous to hear the tales of their origins. They were certainly different than the ones she'd heard in the Shinto shrines but they had some similarities. None of the drawings ever looked like these however. Maybe she could actually look into Ancient Egypt once they got home. Maybe. That probably involved studying.

At the bottom of the staircase was a large, cool room filled with scrolls and paintings and a particularly chipper girl who threw herself on Atem's shoulders. "Pharaoh!"

Atem smiled brightly. It was good to see her as Mana and not the Black Magician Girl again. "Hello, Mana! Good to see you too! Priest Mahad said you might've found some information for us?"

"I have!" Mana replied chipperly, scurrying off go grab a particular scroll and roll it out on the table. The scroll was massive, continuing to roll off the table and clatter with the floor and carry on some more. "The full tale of the conflict between Set and Horus, though I warn you it's really graphic." She wrinkled her nose.

"Perhaps just summarize, Mana," Mahad urged her.

"Okay," she nodded. "Set is characterized by extreme violence and often mutilation. But even more magically speaking, he's known for storms. It's said that Set's arrival is marked by chaotic weather, a lack of rain, and particularly sandstorms."

Usagi cringed at the mention of the violence as she thought of Mars. She was badly beaten at the hands of Set in the alleyway. She worried that the others may have suffered the same.

"Sandstorms?" Atem picked out the word, avoiding thoughts of mutilation. "We haven't had one of those lately, have we?"

"Not that I can recall," Mahad replied. "Not in recent years, at least. Nothing more than the usual dust storms. They're more common out further in the deserts, within Set's territory. The only signs of his possible arrival are in the temple. It's just a theory at the moment."

"Perhaps more than theory," Atem mumbled to himself.

Mahad picked up on the subtle mumblings a bit, observing the slightly peculiar actions of his liege. Atem was acting different, as if he'd learned something but wasn't saying. "Something on your mind, Pharaoh? Something happen?"

Atem blinked stupidly. He'd said that out loud. They had intended to arrive unnoticed, but he'd already slipped up that he might know something. He'd have to cover it up somehow, try to draw from his fractured memories of the time before everything fell apart. "Ah….. well… I've been having some strange dreams," he stammered a bit. Dreams didn't seem out of the ordinary from what he could remember.

"That sounds troubling, Pharaoh," Mana leaned on the scrolls on the table.

"It could be a prophecy from the gods," Mahad reasoned.

Atem nearly tripped in surprise. That worked better than he'd expected, though he still didn't want to do anything to alter time. He remembered Setsuna's warning. But the problem was? He couldn't remember this time. He didn't know what was altered and what wasn't. This would be difficult.

But he did know that Set _did_ attack somewhere around this point in time and they _fought him_. Perhaps it wouldn't be too outside the timeline if he moved the battle along a bit. "A dream that Set was after the Moon again, to steal its light and those who draw from its power."

"That lines up with what Priestess Isis has been babbling about," Mahad reasoned. "That the red force was after the Moon. Perhaps he desires Sefkhet, the moon goddess."

"Set's a jerk," Mana frowned. She frowned some more at the loud clamor as someone stumbled down the stairs in a hurry.

"Pharaoh! Pharaoh!" the young priestess gasped for air. "It's…. It's….." She looked a mess, like she'd fought a battle against a storm. Her tunic was ripped, her light jewelry askew. Her hair was matted and her hanging down in her face.

"Try to breathe," Atem urged her. "What happened?"

The priestess sucked in a shallow breath. "Priestess Isis….. She disappeared right in front of us, taken by a violent storm!"

Atem stared for a moment. Set had made his first move, but he hadn't expected Isis to fall victim to Set's attack. She hadn't appeared among the soul cards tucked into his tunic.

"A violent storm," Mahad knit his brow. "He's made his first move."

...

 **Author's musings**

Apologies for the delay! Just delayed, not dead.

I am amused at the idea that Atem once hid in pots to shirk responsibility. Usagi did pretty much the same. Why they were in the pot in the first place, I'll leave that up to you. But for now, it seems to be where they landed, entangled in a giant pot.

The legends about Set are actually pretty horrifying. He's a brutal kind of guy, doing things that would likely require a higher rating for violence on this fic...


	28. Storms

Setsuna slid the paper shoji door shut, listening to it rattle as the winds picked up. She frowned as she fiddled with her watch.

" _There too, huh. The winds are restless."_

"They aren't ordinary winds, Haruka," Setsuna frowned. "There's nothing ordinary about this."

" _The mirror shows nothing but darkness,"_ Michiru's voice chimed in over the communicator.

Haruka frowned as well. " _We'll try to handle things here in Kyoto before the world turns itself upside down. Then get back to our vacation."_

" _I think we have more pressing matters, Haruka,"_ Michiru teased. " _Do you think that the princess will be okay in the past?"_

"With Usagi-chan's memories and power, I think she'll be just fine," Setsuna replied. "There's a lot at stake, and we all know how powerful her determination and love is. She is there with the timeless pharaoh as well. Between the two of them, they can fix time."

" _I don't want our future to disappear,"_ Hotaru pulled at the watch to chime in. " _I want to see Chibiusa-chan again."_

"We'll do everything we can to ensure that beautiful future remains," Setsuna agreed. "We have to put our faith in the princess and the pharaoh."

" _We'll do what we can to keep things under control here,"_ Haruka stated assuredly. " _Then it's back to family vacation time. Next time, you'll have to join us, Setsuna."_

"I'll consider it." Setsuna nodded, closing the communicator watch. Things weren't looking so great at the moment. Too many had disappeared and the only two fighting the change in time were likely now at the center of this storm. Set really made a mess of things this time. Then again, he did thrive in chaos. She frowned a bit more. Their battle with Chaos just seemed to span across time over and over again, and just when everything seemed to have settled down.

She had been looking forward to the future. Sure, she had been a _part_ of it, but this was her reborn by the power of Neo Queen Serenity. She was looking forward to living _in_ the future this time instead of just watching it. She could spend time with everyone, spoil Chibiusa, and live a normal, guardian life.

She wasn't about to give that up, but she still was bound by the inability to alter time. She had to have faith in the two in the past.

"It's like before, isn't it? The temporal storm we experienced when traveling to the future."

Setsuna turned. She'd been lost in her own thoughts for a moment, not noticing that Rei had awoken and now stood by the window. The miko had wrapped a kimono over her still bandaged shoulders. "It is. Set is starting to affect time."

"Can he really alter time?" Anzu frowned.

"He can," Setsuna replied. "It wouldn't be the first time he's attempted this. He had once tried to shatter the Moon. As the Earth legends go, it was Horus who stopped him but the damage was done. Thoth puts the moon back together but it's no longer shining as brightly because of the damage."

"I take it Queen Serenity intervened," Rei reasoned.

"She did," Setsuna nodded. "With the power of the Silver Crystal, she encased the Moon Palace and its residents in a protective bubble then used the Prayer Tower to fire off a powerful beam of pure light at Set, disabling him so that Horus could fully take Set down."

Anzu frowned a bit. That sounded fantastic, but everything in the past month honestly did. So did everything since she met Atem. She scratched at her head. There was something she was forgetting in that story. "I don't get it. Why is Set so intent on getting the Moon?"

"The Moon is believed to be a source of life," Setsuna explained. "The Moon and the Earth didn't interact, and many of Earth's people didn't even know the Moon had a kingdom. But those who were gods did know that life extended beyond the Earth's surface. Controlling the Moon meant controlling a source of life, the endless power of the Illusionary Silver Crystal."

"Even then, the Silver Crystal was coveted by some form of Chaos," Rei commented. "Chaos really needs to just give it up already."

"That's the crystal Usagi-san has, isn't it?" Anzu recalled. "That seems dangerous to just carry around."

"Usagi-chan protects the crystal with her life," Rei explained. "This rendition is a crystalized form of her own tear. It's part of her, in a way. It responds to her will and her heart. There have been many after the crystal before, but I trust that Usagi-chan will keep it safe. We'll have to have faith that she can do keep it safe again."

Anzu nodded. "We'll have to have faith in Usagi-san and Atem."

…..

"The winds are really picking up!" Mana exclaimed, holding onto Mahad like she'd be blown away in the wind. "I've never seen them this bad before." She shook her hand out as she released her mentor. "You're full of static again."

"There's a lot of magic in this wind," Mahad stared at his hand. He usually devoted much of his magics to suppress the evil in the Millennium Ring, but there was so much magic in the wind, it was starting to manifest on him like chain lightning that snaked around his hands then submerged back under his skin. "Perhaps it is best we return."

Atem frowned, wrinkling his nose. "I know what you're thinking, Mahad. We can handle magical winds."

"We cannot afford to lose a second pharaoh," Mahad added with a pang of sadness in his words.

Atem pursed his lips a bit. He hadn't heard that sadness in Mahad's voice before. Something had happened, something Atem himself couldn't recall. He only remembered his father had died of an illness. "That's why we're here, Mahad. We want to stop people from dying to Set's wrath."

Mahad stared at Atem for a moment. That was an unexpectedly ambitious statement from the young pharaoh, but wholly welcomed. He had been concerned that the young pharaoh would be stuck in a state of confusion and mourning. Mahad still had no way to tell the young lord how his father actually died, but there was so much he just couldn't bring himself to say.

"See? Nothing to worry about," Mana bound off towards their destination, a temple deep within the shifting sands of the desert. It was the last location of where Priestess Isis had been seen, the last location of where Set may have appeared.

Usagi paused a moment, letting the two magicians drive on ahead. "Atem-san, these winds. They are magic, but I've seen them before. They happen when time is being changed."

"A time storm?" Atem peered back at her.

Usagi nodded. "Setsuna-san, well Sailor Pluto at the time, had said they only happen like this when something has changed to really alter the future."

"And right now, our present is this time's future," Atem agreed. "It's exactly as Setsuna-san had said. Set _is_ altering time. I'm still not sure what battle actually happened here the first time, but this time, we're not unprepared."

"He's probably upset he lost that battle that originally happened here," Usagi pondered. "It wouldn't be the first time. We fought a queen who was upset she wasn't invited to a birthday party."

"Seriously?" Atem blinked.

Usagi nodded.

"Well I'm pretty sure Set _doesn't_ get invited to birthday parties," Atem reasoned. "But he did specifically try to seek us out in the present. And now we're bringing the fight right to him."

"I doubt he'll expect our present selves here either," Usagi reasoned. "I may not be able to transform here, but I'm Usagi, not Serenity. I've fought worse since becoming Sailor Moon."

"Worse than a time-changing god?" Atem frowned a bit. "Then again, this isn't the first time I've fought a god. And we have backup."

"Will those two be okay?" Usagi peered at the backs of the two magicians.

"They're a lot more powerful than they seem," Atem replied. "And they have no living modern counterparts unlike the other priests. Set cannot pull them out of time."

Usagi stared at the magicians again. He really thought this through. If he could rival Ami in strategy, he had to be good at this. She'd leave the strategizing up to him. "That's a good point." It left her to wonder if the ones who had been pulled out of time really did have ancient counterparts. Naru, Jounouchi, Honda, Otogi. They must've existed in this time.

"There it is," Mahad pointed out. "The temple of Sefkhet, the moon goddess…... Or what's left of it."

Before them stood the ruins of a temple. A few decorated columns still withstood the winds, tipping sideways slightly as they threatened to fall. The roof of the building had collapsed, some of the bricks from the walls still clinging together.

"What happened to this place?!" Mana exclaimed, bounding towards the building. "We'll have to look for survivors!"

Usagi stared at the ruins, her brow knit with worry. She could feel the pang inside of her, that cold feeling that something malicious was nearby. The silver crystal had given her that power and had to be somehow within her still, resonating with her present form and combining with her past. "Wait! There's evil nearby."

Mahad quickly reached out, grabbing Mana by the back of the collar. "She's right." He held out the Millennium Ring, one of the hanging decorations now jutting forward as it pointed at the temple.

Usagi stared. That thing moved. What was with that ring anyway?

The winds began to gather and wind around themselves, the sand gluing itself together to form a human-like body with a strange animal for a head. He had a tail that looked like a fork at the end missing the middle prong as well as carried a thin black staff that resembled what the strange red-suited people had carried.

Usagi knew this feeling. It was the feeling of facing off against an incarnation of Chaos once again, that evil will that wanted to dominate and destroy. It was him. He was here.

Atem gritted his teeth. He knew that form all too well. "Set. He's finally shown himself."

Set grinned as much as a dog-faced person could grin. "How nice. You've brought the Moon right to me. I'll be taking what is mine."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

Well it didn't take long for Set to make his presence known. Kicking up time winds in both the present and the past, showing up in his true form. This form is based on his ancient artwork. He's sort of this dog-like animal that has no real world equivalent and is often just known as the set-animal. It's got a weird fork-like tail that has been present pretty much throughout the story represented by the staffs that the red-suited weirdos have been wielding.

I think it's time for a fight.


	29. Light of the Moon

"Well well, you brought the Moon right to me, and I sense you have exactly what I want," Set outstretched his hand with a smirk twisting his features. "Hand over the light of the Moon, the ever-powerful Silver Crystal, the source of life itself and I won't have to shatter that precious silver kingdom of yours again."

Usagi narrowed her eyes. It was the same old story every time. Chaos wanted the source of unlimited power. It was possible that he sensed it on her, even though her past self never possessed it. Perhaps this was his plan all along, to bait them into traveling into the past so he could alter the future. If he got his hands on the crystal, it would be Metallia all over again. Or worse. "That's not going to happen, Set."

Set paused a moment, staring past the magicians at the two royalty. This was definitely the Moon Princess but she seemed more powerful and knowledgeable than the first time he'd encountered the pair. He'd taken such care to remove those who could challenge him from the timeline, but there was one step left in the plan he hadn't quite expected would actually work. He grinned a toothy smirk. "Just as I expected of you, princess. Trouble now, and trouble in the future."

Atem studied Set for a moment. He wasn't certain if Set realized that Atem and Usagi were now playing the roles of their former selves. He glanced at Usagi for a moment, recalling the light she'd used to heal the people possessed by Set at the convention and again in the Shrine. It must be what Set had desired all along.

Usagi placed her hands over her heart. She could feel the warmth of the Silver Crystal within her, the faith her friends had in her by sending her here. "You're not the first one to desire this power and you're likely not the last. But I still won't allow you to take this power for yourself and use it for evil."

Set scoffed. "Enough of your justice speeches, princess. Let's skip the formalities and get right to business with how we settle things: a shadow game." He reached into his kilt, pulling out a deck of cards.

"Are those…. Cards?" Mahad stared, partially because of the cards but also partially because of Set's choice of where to keep them.

Usagi pulled the cards from her dress. Her choice of where to keep them wasn't much better, but it wasn't as if her past self had a dress with _pockets_. The cards were her regular deck with the soul cards shuffled in. Fighting magical battles seemed much easier than this dueling business. She never did fully learn the rules. Perhaps she should've listened to Ami when she tried to explain them. But they had been so dry she just started thinking of Mamoru instead.

"Let's get rid of the peanut gallery first," Set commented snidely, raising his hand to conjure winds to blow away the two magicians. The sharp gust blew Mana backwards, causing the mage to tumble and roll in the sands until she landed face first next to Atem.

Mahad, however, stood his ground as he conjured magics to resist the winds. The force pushed him back several feet in the sand but he still remained standing.

"Interesting," Set commented, raising his staff and firing off a red beam of light. "You'll do nicely as a card."

Mahad braced himself as he was struck by the beam but nothing happened. He furrowed his eyebrows a bit and adjusted his headdress. "Was…. that supposed to do something?"

"Someone didn't do his homework," Atem smirked as he pulled out his deck of cards as well. "Let's get this started, shall we?"

Set wrinkled his nose as much as a jackal-faced man actually could. He'd made a bit of a miscalculation assuming all of the Pharaoh's priests had a modern counterpart. This one magician seemed to be missing one, eternally stuck in this time and fixed at the Pharaoh's side.

Mahad glanced at his liege. He was still the same Pharaoh that he knew but for some reason, he seemed more confident and less uncertain about the situation. It almost seemed like he was being possessed by a god or something to give him more strength. A pharaoh was a god incarnate, after all, but this seemed more than that.

"Priest Mahad, I don't want you expending all your ka," Atem peered up at the taller priest.

"Pharaoh, I should be-" he cut himself off, staring back at Atem. "Who are you?"

"I am who you know me to be," Atem replied. He paused for a moment, studying his friend's face. Mahad was different than other priests. Atem knew that Mahad could always be honest with him, and it ate away at the pharaoh he couldn't be honest in return.

But time had already been altered. They'd likely drifted away from the actual timeline. He stared down at the cards in his hand, the Black Magician staring back at him. "I'll be honest, Mahad, because I know that you can handle this. I am indeed the same pharaoh but from a different time. We're here to fix things that went wrong. I just ask that you have faith in me, not just as your pharaoh but as your friend."

Usagi stared at Atem in shock. He had been so honest with the response.

Atem peered back at her. "We've already passed the point where Set changes time."

"We probably have." Usagi understood. If she were in the same place, she'd probably want to tell her guardians as well. The priests were his, and Mahad seemed to be the closest.

Mahad glanced between the two before offering a bow at Atem. No matter what time it was, he still was fiercely loyal to his childhood friend. "When have I ever not had my faith in you?"

"Touching," Set scoffed.

"How dare you insult a deep friendship like that!" Usagi jammed a finger at him. She didn't need to pretend to be calm like Serenity was anymore. She was Usagi, Sailor Moon, and she didn't like it when people or gods insulted friendships. "In the name of the Moon, we'll punish you for screwing with our friends and time!"

Set snorted with a bit of a snarl. "I'm going to enjoy crushing you."

Despite her speech, Usagi still had no idea what she was doing. The cards she now held in her hand looked different than the ones in modern times. A lot of them now looked like Egyptian drawings, but at least the writing on the cards was something other than just gibberish. It wasn't Japanese but the ancient writings of the Moon that she still somehow understood.

Then again, this was likely a Shadow Game. From what she'd heard from Ami, the game would reflect her heart. That was easy. She always followed her heart anyway. That's just how she was. She just wasn't sure how this would apply to the game here.

Atem drew a card from his hand dramatically out to the side, holding it between two fingers. "You'll find the battles are a bit more dynamic here and a bit less like the card games we've played," he informed her. "I hope you're good at dodging in those layers."

Usagi grinned. "That I can do. I may not be able to transform, but that doesn't mean I'm not able to fight. As long as I don't need to worry about counter traps and spells and quick spells or spell spells or whatever."

"Leave those to me," Atem assured her. "Just like when we first dueled. You play by your heart, and I'll back you up. These decks are supported by the power of our own life force, but the heart of the cards still applies, even here."

"Our life?" Usagi fumbled with her cards.

"That's how duels are done here," Atem informed her. "It's literally do or die."

Usagi gulped. It wasn't the worst situation she'd been in but it definitely ranked up there. She wasn't putting her faith into her own magic but instead into her cards. She stared at the cards and thought about Atem's words. Was it really so different? The heart of the cards seemed like an extension of her relying on her own heart. She'd jumped into the Galaxy Cauldron, leapt into darkness on multiple occasions, and traveled through time to save her own future. This was just another battle in another time with her heart guiding her to save all her fallen friends.

They were relying on her. They all were.

She nodded to Atem. "Let's do this. Let's fix time."


	30. The Swordsman and the Guardian

Usagi had to admit she was unnerved, but what battle against Chaos hadn't at least shook her? There was so much at stake: the past, the future, their friends' souls. And now that stake relied on trusting the heart of the cards in a game she didn't fully understand.

Beside her, Atem seemed a bit more confident. He knew the stakes, but he also knew he couldn't afford to choke up and lose. Their lives and the lives of their friends were on the line. He flipped the card over. "I summon Mystic Swordsman Jounounchi-kun onto the field."

The familiar form of Jounouchi, Yugi's obnoxious blond friend, now graced the field. He was decorated in fantasy-style armor with unnecessary pieces of cloth and decorations as well as some manner of hat that just didn't seem to match the rest of the outfit. He stared at the large sword in his hands then at Set across the battlefield. He was dreaming. Yup. Wouldn't be the first time he'd dreamt of Duel Monsters.

Jounouchi blinked. That biting wind felt a little too real. He turned behind him. "Atem? Am I dreaming?"

"You're not, Jounouchi-kun," Atem shook his head. "It's a Shadow Game against the god of chaos in Ancient Egypt. Will you lend me your strength?"

Jounouchi stared at him, then glanced at Usagi standing next to him, then back at Atem. It sounded like some weird fanfiction he could find on the internet. It was even too weird for him to dream up. However. "Do you really need to ask? Of course! Let's kick that guy's ass like we did back against that ring spirit!"

"I knew I could count on you." Atem grinned. He remembered that Shadow Game of Monster World against the newly awakened ring spirit. He'd only recently become self-aware at that point, still uncertain of who or what he was. That felt like forever ago.

He turned his attention back to Set. "I place these two cards face down and end my turn. Usagi-san?"

She stared at her cards. _Play by your heart. Trust your heart._ She had to trust in the strength of her friends once again. They always gave her so much strength to fight, even at the most desperate of times. Right now was one of those times.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she relied on that bond with her friends as she'd done in so many battles before. Drawing a card, she stared at it. The cards _had_ responded to her heart. "I summon the Legendary Guardian to the field. Come forth, Codename: Sailor V!"

Sailor V appeared before them in a burst of light and hearts, posing as if celebrating a victory before her heels sunk into the sands. V stared at Set across the field. That was a form of Chaos if she ever saw one. Perhaps the weirdest one, but they'd seen some pretty weird stuff in their battles. Last thing she could remember _was_ setting her crescent compact by the window. She rarely used it but she _sometimes_ remembered to charge it with the light of the moon.

Perhaps this was a wild dream induced by too many parfaits the afternoon before. But perhaps more importantly… "Why am I in this outfit again?"

"V-chan!" Usagi called out to her. "I need your power to fight Chaos! Can you help us?"

V turned, her expression softening as she spotted Serenity standing behind her. "Of course, Princess! You can always count on me!"

Usagi nodded, fumbling with the cards in her hand. She didn't really know how to set or use traps so she just shrugged. "End turn?"

Set smirked, amused by her uncertainty. He didn't expect this would be an easy battle by any means, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to play on her uncertainty or attempt to metaphorically (perhaps literally) rip their hearts out. He was a god, after all. He had no reason to believe two piddly mortals could best him, even if they were sent to the past by the goddess of time.

He barely moved as he drew a card, summoning it. "I summon the Crocodile Warriors to the field." Several human-bodied crocodile-headed warriors appeared on the field dressed in traditional Ancient Egyptian attire, brandishing spears and swords. "I also summon the Mosquito Warriors as part of the Crocodile Warrior's special summoning ability."

"Hey, isn't that cheating?" Usagi shuddered at the giant mosquitos with human bodies. This was just weird and kind of gross.

"He's stacked his deck with some powerful spirits," Atem frowned as well, "ones that don't exist within our time. We don't really have anyway of knowing what he'll pull from that deck. But he also won't completely know what we'll pull from ours. The spirits of our friends will act differently than most duel monsters cards."

"They'll act differently?" Usagi stared up at V's back. That was indeed her friend standing there in front of her as a duel monster. Or a ka spirit, since this was ancient times. She stared across the field at the crocodiles and bugs. The summons didn't act like normal monster cards. She wasn't the most strategic person by any definition, but she knew her friends like the back of her hand.

"Because of their special ability, they all can attack at once!" Set cackled, sending the warriors off towards the two spirits on the other side of the sandy field.

"Che, cheap," Jounouchi scoffed, gripping the large sword. Six warriors at once. That seemed like far too many for one person to summon, but technically they were only two cards and this was a god across the field from us. But gods didn't really intimidate him after all they went through in Battle City.

"Jounouchi-kun, this is an ancient Shadow Game!" Atem shouted as he pointed forward. "Counter attack against the Crocodile Warriors with your blade!"

"Now we're talkin'!" Jounouchi grinned. He could feel the surge of power running through him as he leapt forward. He dodged the stabs and jabs of the spears, slicing cleanly through one of them with his large blade. He felt like he completely understood how to fight with swords despite never actually fighting with one in real life.

Usagi was quickly realizing what Atem had meant that the battles worked differently here. They felt more familiar, like a battle of magic she'd fought before. She still had to command as if she were playing a Pokemon game, but at least she knew what she was fighting with this time. "V-chan! Get rid of those gross mosquitos!"

"You got it!" Sailor V extended a finger, drawing a glittery spiral with it. Shifting her stance, she pushed the spiral forward with both hands. "Diphenhydramine Dispersa! Venus Brand: Mosquito Incense Typhoon!" The spiral grew larger and larger, ensnaring the mosquito warriors and quickly causing them to whither and die in the deadly trap.

"V-chan! You're so cool!" Usagi cheered.

"Victory!" Sailor V cheered, offering a victory pose.

Jounouchi leapt backwards to meet with the rest of the group, brandishing his blade at the now empty opposite side of the field. "Yeah, take that!"

Sailor V celebrated over their victory. It was like doing some sort of VR battle. "We're awesome as Duel Monsters, Jounouchi-kun!"

"Damn right!" he agreed.

Set scoffed, feeling the effects of losing two summons at once pull at his life force. They were treating it like some sort of game without consequence, _enjoying_ the battle. Set somewhat expected it from the Pharaoh's half of the field, but not quite from the Moon's half. If only he'd managed to steal those souls for himself.

While he could possibly go backwards and redo the battle, he still was confident that he could best the Pharaoh and the Princess. He'd worked too hard to alter time for this to fail. He just needed to show them true misery and break their spirits.

Atem drew a card, looking at the cards face with a grin. "Usagi-san, something you should know from here out."

She glanced at him. His face seemed more confident but his words more cautionary. "Something wrong?"

"Be cautious with how many summons you have on the field," he warned. "While certainly we'd want to have all our friends with us, summoning here in this type of battle can cause strain on your ka if you're not careful."

"Don't worry, Princess!" V tried to cheer her up. "No matter how many of us are out here on the field or in your deck, we're always with you in your heart. Just like the many times we've had to fight evil separated."

Usagi smiled brightly at her friend. "Of course! We're always together."

Atem smiled as well. Her faith in her friends was inspiring for this battle. He had to once again rely on the souls of his friends to help him out. "I summon to the field Magical Gunman Honda-kun!"

Honda appeared next to Jounouchi, wearing some mismash of attire from the American wild western movies with some steampunk aesthetic. He wielded a large shotgun that seemed to have more gears than necessary. He huffed. Another shadow game. At least he seemed to be taking it better than Jounouchi did at first. "Alright, let's do this."

Atem grinned. Honda was definitely itching for a fight. "I use this spell card to equip Honda-kun with a scattershot magical bullet."

Honda cocked the magical gun. "Now we're talking." He glared across the field. Whatever that thing was across the field had to be responsible for this mess. The talk of disappearances, the weird attacks across the town. Given that Atem stood behind him in full Egyptian royal regalia, that thing on the opposite side was likely pretty ancient. It needed to go.

"Honda-kun, attack Set directly!" Atem instructed.

"You got it." He cocked the gun again, resting it against his shoulder and firing off a stream of magical bullets directly at the thing across the field.

Set smirked. "Activate instant spell, Wall of Sand." With a swipe of his hand, he drew sand upwards, deflecting the bullets and sending them back towards the other side of the field.

"That sounds more like a Magic the Gathering card," Jounouchi mumbled.

"Counter trap, Mirror Force!" Atem revealed one of the face down cards, reflecting the attack.

"Instant spell, Divine Mirror!" Set countered with a card from his hand again.

More counter attacks, just like the first time Moon and Atem teamed up. V thought her head was going to spin right off her shoulders.

"I don't think so," Atem waggled his finger at Set. "Activate another trap card, Magic Cylinder!"

"You don't have a mage!" Set jeered.

"I don't, but Usagi-san does!" Atem quickly indicated Usagi's one friend on the field. "I equip Sailor V with the Magic Cylinder and deflect the attack!"

V quickly recovered from her dizziness from the counters, grabbing the cylinder that now appeared within reach. She leapt before the two boys, taking a knee as the magical bullets were sucked into the cylinder. "Duel Monsters Combo: Magical Attack Deflection!" She naturally had to give it a name as the blast of magical energy fired off towards Set.

The god scoffed as the beam of light struck him. That pharaoh was much more clever than the previous incarnation he fought, and that princess and her belief in friendship would cause more trouble than he had planned. But this would make it interesting. It would be much more satisfying to crush them now. He'd make sure of it.

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

I have waited so long for this chapter. And I probably put far too much thought in how this battle would be coordinated. So why not do the time old classic of WE'RE DUELING WITH OUR FRIENDS' SOULS. Well I mean, this is called Duel of the Souls for a reason.

Jounouchi's outfit is based on the Flame Swordsman during the shadow duel in the Duel Monsters anime. Honda's is from Monster World in the manga (which is what the anime version is based on)

I literally put Minako in as Sailor V solely because I wanted to use that mosquito brand attack. Her attack names in the manga are just so random it had to be done. I just love the idea that Minako has to give everything an over-the-top name.

Mosquito and crocodile warriors are a thing in Ancient Egyptian lore. Obviously that means I must use them because MOSQUITO PEOPLE? YES. What else could be kinda terrifying and gross across the battlefield?


	31. A Duel of Souls

Mahad watched the battle from behind, impressed. He could clearly see that the pharaoh standing there was a lot stronger than before. He was definitely different but he was also the same.

Mana clung to him, watching the battle intently. "That _is_ the Pharaoh there, isn't it?"

"A stronger version of himself," Mahad replied. "If… no when they are victorious, I hope this is the future pharaoh that will lead and protect Egypt for many years to come."

Atem stood confidently on the field with his two friends now summoned as magical spirits. He thumbed through the cards he had drawn. That last counterattack battle had depleted a number of his cards, so he'd have to pull some more. "I play Pot of Greed to draw three more cards."

He closed his eyes, relying on the heart of the cards to give him something he could use. Sure enough, the deck gave him something he could tuck away for later. "I play this card face down and end my turn."

Usagi smiled as Sailor V high-fived Jounouchi and Honda. This was going well, and that worried her a bit. After how powerful Set seemed to be, this battle quickly favoring their side of the field. Perhaps they could finish it quickly before Set pulled any sort of underhanded tactics.

Relying on her heart, she drew another card. It wasn't another soul of her friends, but it was some sort of magical upgrade card. She thumbed through her cards for the one matching the description. She had exactly what she needed. "I use these two cards, the Sword of the Silver Crystal and the Venus Chain, to double V-chan's attack and defense!"

The red heart-shaped chain manifested around her waist. It was a familiar sight, something she had used as Venus but not as V, but she wasn't one to dwell on technicalities. The swordnow in her hand was also familiar. It was the stone sword that they'd found in the Moon Palace during their first visit. With both the items, she could perform a multitude of attacks along with the ones she had as Sailor V.

She stood poised for battle, holding the sword proudly in her hand, expecting a command for an attack yet none came. She peered back at Usagi. "Princess?"

Usagi looked nervous. After that last chain of counters, she was hesitant to call a command to attack. Set still had cards in his hand, and she had no way of knowing what spells he had. If it were just her, she'd attack with a magical blast from a wand or scepter or whatever, but this was different. She was playing with souls. It wasn't a game, even if it felt like one. Her worry was starting to get the better of her.

"Usagi-chan," V took a knee, placing the sword in the sand then taking Usagi's hand in both of hers. "We all know that this is a fight of life and death here, but when has it ever _not_ been? Look, I know it's hard, but let us do the fighting for you. No matter what happens, you can't give up."

"I'm not giving up at all, Minako-chan," Usagi shook her head, rubbing at her eyes. "I don't want to lose anyone. Everytime we fight, people die."

"And then you bring them back," V pointed out. "Look, we all know how dangerous it is to be your guardian. It comes with the territory. We've fought so many forms of chaos and even our own allies before. We can't back down. I want to go hang out with everyone and play card games and yell at Rei-chan when she can't get the name right. No matter what happens, we're always _your_ guardians and friends. Now let's go kick this guy's butt together, right?"

Usagi nodded, rubbing at her eyes with her hand. Now wasn't the time to have doubts. "After this, we're going to get parfaits." She pulled at her skirt, kicking off her heels and digging her toes into the sand. She wanted to see everyone again, to have fun and play card games badly. She pulled another card from her hand. "I summon a second to the field. Come forth, Guardian of Thunder, Sailor Jupiter!"

A bolt of thunder crashed from the sky, Sailor Jupiter appearing from it in a flurry of rose petals. "Aw, yeah, I'm back!" She flexed a bit, rearing for a fight, before glancing at V. "What are you wearing?"

"I'm a buffed up Sailor V, just accept it," V replied as if it were nothing unusual, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "We're gonna go kick that god of chaos's butt."

"That's all I need to know," Jupiter nodded assuredly.

Usagi nodded. She had to trust in her friends like she always did. She placed a hand on her heart. She could feel their strength and warmth swell within her. "Both of you, attack Set directly!"

"You got it, Princess!" Jupiter wound her arms together, whipping a leg around before spinning quickly and gathering the winds around her. "Coconut Cyclone!"

Winking, Sailor V pulled the chain from her waist and winding it around the sword. "Venus Wink Chain Sword!" Her attack combined with Jupiter's, the combined assault careening towards Set.

"Activate spell card."

Those were the words neither Usagi nor Atem wanted to hear, but Set had clearly said them.

"Attack Negation!" Set pulled the card from his hand, absorbing the attack and simply phasing it out of existence.

"Man that guy pisses me off!" Jounouchi hissed. "He's got some answer for everything, doesn't he?"

"We'll find a way around this, Jounouchi-kun," Atem assured him. He'd been in worse situations where the battle seemed absolutely hopeless or impossible. That seemed to be a _summary_ of Battle City. Everything was a challenge or a binding situation that he had to find a way to escape. He had to play this a bit more cautiously as souls were at stake here.

However, he was also aware that destroying a summoned monster or spirit in this time return it to its point of summon, in this case, his card. But he couldn't imagine it was exactly pleasant for his friends to experience. Nor did he particularly want to see his friends fall before him.

But Atem was concerned about what Set had up his sleeve. So far, he'd played a counter deck, one capable of countering everything they threw out. But one could only have so many spells and trap cards before a deck became utterly pointless. He could defend until the ends of the earth but if he didn't have any decent monster cards to summon, it would be a long battle slowly draining the life out of both sides.

Perhaps that was his plan. If either Atem or Usagi ran out of cards, they would automatically lose. It would be the most excruciatingly slow way to win, but it wasn't an impossibility.

But right now, that possibility was getting smaller and smaller. He was running out of cards in his hand. Yet Set still stood confidently on the other side of the field.

"I want to punch his stupid jackal face," Jounouchi fussed.

"Same," Jupiter agreed. "Nothing quite like the direct approach."

"I like the way you think!" Jounouchi grinned.

Usagi stared at the remaining cards in her hand. She really didn't understand how trap cards worked, but she had seen Atem use a few. Maybe she really should've read the rules a bit more. She pulled the trap card out of her hand, reading over the description for a bit, hoped it worked, and set it out. "I put this card face down and end the turn."

Jupiter rocked on her feet. She wanted to punch this guy, but it didn't take her long to realize they were bound by some rules of a game. She hadn't really paid much attention to the rules of Duel Monsters, leaving that up to Minako and Usagi to obsess over and Ami to claim she _wasn't_ obsessing over it. She hit her hand in her fist, ready for action.

Set drew a card, a large smirk pulled up at his jackal lips. "Well well." He turned the card around. "I summon the Goddess of Destruction, Sekhmet!"

From the ground rose a woman with a lioness head, wrapped in white linens and adorned with jewelry. Her lion tail swished behind her as she leaned forward, ready to pounce.

"Seriously? God cards again?" Jounouchi huffed.

"This is a Shadow Game," Honda chided him. "She probably _is_ a goddess."

"Like that'll stop the goddess of love," Sailor V proclaimed.

Atem scowled a bit. So this was Set's plan. Bide his time before he could pull out the big punches.

Set jabbed a finger at the opposing field. "Sekhmet! Destroy!"

Sailor V and Jupiter defensively stood in front of Usagi, planning to absorb the attack to prevent her from being harmed as the goddess of war opened her mouth and fired off a massive beam of light.

"Not so fast!" Atem shouted. "Reveal my face down card. Kuriboh!" The small ball of fur appeared before the quartet of summoned friends, chittering happily as it zipped around in the air.

"You have to be kidding," Set scoffed.

"I play this spell card from my hand!" Atem continued, dismissing Set's commentary. "Multiply!"

With a happy chitter, the small fuzzy kuriboh multiplied over and over and over again, blocking Sekhmet's attack. A few kuriboh were destroyed in the process but they multiplied to replace those which had fallen.

Atem grinned. "Even the smallest of monsters can become something great if played right."

"Aww, they're kinda cute," V gushed. "I bet they're soft."

"V-chan…." Jupiter sighed.

"You're making a farce out of this!" Set shouted at them angrily.

"Someone's got his skirt in a knot," Jounouchi commented.

Set seethed. For awhile there, he thought it would be fun to squeeze the life out of his opposition, to enjoy the battle and kill them slowly, watching them suffer as their friends died with them. But that wasn't going to work this time. They were making a mockery of this.

Pulling their allies out of time was _supposed_ to guarantee a complete victory, but somehow they still could get their hands on the souls of their friends. Their friendship and heart of the cards nonsense. It was time to just eliminate them and take the Silver Crystal and the Millennium Puzzle for himself.

"It's time I take the Sun and the Moon's power for myself," the god of chaos proclaimed, holding his cards in one hand. "I sacrifice half my deck to employ Sekhmet's ultimate ability: Obliteration."

"That doesn't sound good," V took a defensive position. "Brace yourselves!"

Sekhmet rose her hand to the sky, causing it to blacken with dark and ominous clouds suddenly. The clouds rolled in, blocking the light of both the sun and the dimmed crescent moon hanging low in the sky. The dark clouds also rolled in along the sands, driving forward and making quick work of the kuriboh defensive line.

"Not so fast!" Atem jabbed a finger at Set. "I activate my-" he cut himself off when his card began to turn to sand, falling through his fingers. He gasped as his two friends began to turn into sand as well. "Jounouchi-kun! Honda-kun!"

"Minako-chan! Mako-chan!" Usagi shouted, reaching for them. Their fingers barely touched as she grasped for her friends, but they turned to sand, leaving her with nothing but a pile of what once was her friends. She had to find a way to counter attack. Anything, anything would do. She shuffled through the cards, each one turning to sand and falling through her fingers.

She felt the life drain from her as she fell to her knees, gasping for air. "Atem-kun! What's…" she fell face first into the sand.

So this was his plan. Obliterate the deck and force a forfeit. Atem's reasoning wasn't that far off of how Set planned to win, he just didn't expect it to be so immediate and so incredibly effective. Everyone was relying on them. It couldn't end like this.

 **...**

 **Author's musings!**

Counter decks are perhaps some of the most annoying things to play against. They sit there and counter you again and again with reversals just to tick you off. They also rely on chance, and when it's a shadow game, you might just have chance on your side if you're an ancient god of chaos.

Sekhmet is the goddess of destruction, a lion-headed woman who is buddy-buddy with Set. Legends say she can destroy things with her mouth. (honestly that's like half of the pantheon in general.)

Obliterate is a legitimate card, though to use it, you sacrifice Exodia, not your deck. It also doesn't turn cards to sand, though if it did, damn that would be one way to end a duel.

There's a sneaky reference here

"Nothing like the direct approach" – my favorite line in the DiC dub. Jupiter says this when blasting into Tokyo Tower to get the Rainbow Crystals. Mercury goes through a lot of calculations and Jupiter just kinda blasts through the front door. 20 years later and I still remember that scene clearly.


	32. Wake up

" _Usagi-chan, why are you sleeping again? You'll end up with detention!"_

" _Ami-chaaaaaaan" Usagi whined, stirring from her slumber. She was in her classroom at Juuban, with all her friends and even Yugi and his friends. Atem had fallen asleep next to her with Yugi prodding him in the face._

" _Other me, stop sleeping," Yugi prodded him some more._

" _It's time for you both to wake up." Makoto encouraged them._

" _That's right. You can't just sleep the day away," Jounouchi agreed. "After all, you got a duel to win, right?"_

" _Yeah!" Otogi agreed. "Now's not the time to slack off."_

" _What'll Anzu say if you don't win?" Yugi added._

 _Atem felt the statement just pierce right through him. "A-aibou!"_

 _Yugi grinned as the others laughed at his plight._

" _You know, we could go on a double date with Mamo-chan and me!" Usagi suggested. "It'll be fun, right, Mamo-chan?"_

" _It certainly would, Usako," Mamoru agreed._

" _That sounds great. I'll make sure he's there," Yugi egged his other self on._

" _Aibou!" Atem fussed._

" _You could finally have a real date," Honda teased._

" _Honda-kun!" Atem fussed some more._

" _We'll also have to take some time to have parfaits and even go out to the theme park," Naru added. "It'll be a lot of fun. All of us together again. I never did get to hang out with all of you yet. And I never did get to see Usagi-chan duel with her deck either. Even if I don't really get the game."_

" _It'll be fun!" Minako wrapped an arm around Naru's shoulders. "I bet Ami-chan will teach you."_

" _I don't know what you're talking about," the blue-haired girl protested. She stared at everyone staring back before conceding with a sigh. "Very well. I still need to have an actual duel with Atem-kun as well. We constantly get interrupted."_

" _That's for later though. Now it's time to wake up," Jounouchi leaned over and flicked Atem in the forehead._

 _Atem rubbed at his face. "Wake up?"_

" _Yes, wake up," Minako encouraged them. "Wake up!"_

…...

"Oh gods." That was all Mahad could actually utter as he watched his liege and the princess fall. He was frozen in shock, the situation not yet sinking in. A destructive god and goddess stood across the sands from him, looking very pleased with their work. He was just a priest. He didn't know how to fight a god, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. "Mana, stay with the Pharaoh."

"Master!" she called out to him. "What are you doing?"

"Something probably stupid," he admitted. He picked up his robes, kicking the sand out of his sandals and stepping forward. He was a mortal priest now facing gods, but he was also much more powerful than he often let on. He appeared weak, apparently even to the gods who now mocked him by cackling.

He spent much of his magical power suppressing the Millennium Ring's evil, but he still had some to spare. Sure, he could summon, but he had other magic as well. Perhaps his liege would understand if he released some of that magic.

Not that Atem knew the secrets of the Millennium Items. It was best he didn't know.

In several pulses of magical energy bursting out across the sands, Mahad released his magical bind on the Ring, allowing his full power to course through him. "I won't let you take Egypt."

Set scowled at the priest. The true encounter with him never felt like this. This priest had more magic than he let on, perhaps suppressing it even in such a desperate battle as history told it. But desperation could do a lot for a man, even force him to release a suspiciously evil energy trapped within his aura. "I'll just crush you as well."

Mana crouched down next to Atem, wishing she knew some healing spells. She wasn't really well versed in them yet. Placing a hand on Atem, she could feel he was still warm. Life still coursed through him, his soul was still rooted in the living world.

Atem stirred, pulling his face from the sand just a bit. Everything felt hazy. For a moment he was certain he was in a classroom with Yugi setting him up on a date with Anzu again. Nearly everyone was there, even Kaiba stewing in the corner. But it wasn't Domino High. It was somewhere else, and Usagi and her friends were there.

He reached over, finding Usagi's hand in the sand. She was still warm, her touch inviting and familiar. Perhaps at one point they had shared something for one another, perhaps something deeper than just a battle for their lives. Then again, that sort of thing did draw people closer. "Usagi-san. Usagi-san, wake up. We're not dead yet."

She wrapped her hand around his, interlocking their fingers. "We're not. Our friends, they woke us back up so this wouldn't be the end. We have too much to live for. They're all relying on us." She could feel it too, some sort of deeper connection with him that had caused her to blush before. They perhaps shared something once before, but right now, they wanted to share a deep bond of friendship to save their friends and time. She was driven by the love in her heart, and using that as fuel to stop a god of chaos might just be what they needed.

"They are," Atem agreed. "I never did get to know all your friends or finish that duel with Mizuno-san."

"Naru-chan is my best friend. I'm sure you'll all get along really well," Usagi smiled softly. "The same for Mamo-chan too."

Two years ago, this conversation would likely have gone very differently. So much had happened since he'd awoken. He'd come close to everyone so much that even Yugi teased him about it. But he had to admit it made him less the psychotic ancient spirit he once was. He'd come to believe in the heart of the cards and the power of friendship. It truly was a different feeling than before. "Let's get everyone together after this."

"Definitely! And I'm looking forward to that double date," Usagi added.

Atem frowned sharply, blushing.

"Oooh, Pharaoh has a date~" Mana cooed.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Mana," Atem chided her.

Usagi laughed at Mana now teasing him. "We'll need to take down Set and his friend with the weird name first," Usagi added. "Our friends are now in our hearts and minds, helping us out. We can't let them down. They're giving us all their power."

"You can use my power, too," Mana offered. "And probably Master's before he does something crazy."

Atem released Usagi's hand, pushing himself up off the sand. "He's releasing his true power." He knew what that could do and the power he held back. He also knew that Mahad was using magics to seal the Ring's evil away. His 13-year-old-self wasn't supposed to know that, but he knew that in his present mind. "Mahad, I'm borrowing your power!"

The priest glanced over his shoulder in surprise. The pharaoh and the princess now stood tall, scuffed and banged up but standing nonetheless.

Set scoffed. There was no way this was possible. They should've died with the effects of the shadow game in play. A depleted deck meant game over, but somehow they had circumvented that rule. Or something revived him. Perhaps that was the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal at play here.

But it didn't matter. The chaos god had plans to crush their spirits once again. Raising his staff to the sky, beams of light careened out of the dark clouds like a meteor shower aimed for the magician priest. He'd crush the pharaoh's last hope and surely the princess would fall shortly thereafter.

Yet as soon as the attack impacted the sands, the magician was nowhere to be found. "What?!" the chaos god scoffed. He glared across the field at the pharaoh who now stood with his arm outstretched, shadow energies teaming around him.

The Shadow Game was still in play. Atem was well aware of this. He'd never quite played one of this caliber but he'd come close with fighting Zorc in the Memory World. He had the power to manipulate ka with his summoning abilities. Normally this would be done with the spirit stones, but he put his faith in his friends for a special summoning that he hoped would work.

"Come forth, Black Magician Girl!" Beside him now manifested the familiar modern form of the monster with Mana's personality and dark complexion.

"Hey, look at me!" Mana exclaimed. She admired the new outfit and the bright colors, playing with the wand in her hands. "I'm ready to fight so you can have that date later, Pharaoh!"

Atem huffed. No one was going to let that one down. It wasn't as though he didn't like spending time with Anzu. He simply wanted to ask her of his own volition when things weren't going crazy. He shook his head, letting future prospects fuel his next move.

He shifted his hand, gathering shadow magics that seemed to dance around him. "I summon forth the Black Magician reborn of the chaotic nature of his magics and ire for what you have done, Set. I call forth the Magician of Black Chaos."

The shadows gathered together, forming Mahad in a new form fueled by not only Mahad's own natural magics but the chaotic nature of the Ring he sought to suppress. Atem had combined the two, putting his faith in both aspects that Mahad now possessed. The magician brandished his staff at Set.

Atem grinned at Set. "It's time we put down a god."

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

I love the magician of black chaos. My favorite card. It's a pity you don't see him used all that much. Given Mahad's rather chaotic magics (that really is only brushed upon in the show), I thought the magician of black chaos was fitting! And well. Magicians. I do love magicians.

Prepare for a battle!


	33. Magicians and gods

He finally realized it as he stared at the two magicians now standing before the pharaoh. It finally made sense that no matter what he could do, Set couldn't find the modern counterparts of Mahad and Mana. They existed in a different way, as magicians in the Duel Monsters deck.

Set scoffed. Not that it mattered. The pharaoh and the princess couldn't pull another revival stunt. They had to be on their last leg, the confidence across the field a mere facade. He'd crush their last bit of hope and destroy them. He smirked.

Across the field, Atem's expression hadn't changed. He stood confident and tall with his two magicians at his side. Usagi stood near him, her hands over her heart. She didn't have any way to summon her friends, but they were there with her to help back them up.

"Let's show Set the true power of our hearts," Atem proclaimed. "Mahad, let's start things off. Chaos Black Magic Rain!"

The magician was more than happy to make the first move, ready to use this new power at his command. Bending his knees, he leapt up towards the sky, drawing the staff upward towards the dark clouds. The clouds responded to his command, gathering at his staff then shooting downward at Set and Sekhmet in a massive rain of black magic.

"Master looks so cool!" Mana cheered.

Set and Sekhmet leapt out of the way, the black magic impacting with the ground and kicking sand into the air. The chaos god scoffed at the attack. "Fire back with Chaos Missiles!"

Sekhmet landed, turning towards the skies. The magician seemed like an easy target just hanging there in the sky. With a quick thrust of her hands, she fired off red blasts of modern-looking missiles. They hurtled up towards the magician quickly.

"Mahad, evade the attack!" Atem commanded. He was certain Set would try something underhanded with this battle, but he had faith in Mahad's abilities now emphasized by the effects of the Shadow Games.

Silently, the magician twisted in the air, diving towards the ground at a sharp angle. The missiles turned in the air, careening after them. Mahad scoffed, shifting to place a foot on the ground and rebounding back towards the sky. He glanced over his shoulder. The missiles continued to follow him, speeding up with every twist and turn he attempted to make.

"Oh no, Master!" Mana worried. "Should we-"

Usagi placed a hand on the magician's shoulder. While watching the magician attempt to evade the attack, Usagi had felt a warmth around her heart as if Mamoru had wrapped his arms around her. She could feel him near her in her heart.

Before this all started, Mamoru mailed Usagi some cards, one in particular she treasured. She could hear the card calling out to her. She wasn't certain if she could channel it, but Mamoru was there, helping her out, supporting her when she had doubts. She had to trust in their love and bond. "Moon Mirror Force!" she called out right as the missiles collided with Mahad.

Red clouds of smoke spread out in the sky, obscuring the magician from view. Yet as quickly as they appeared, they dispersed. Mahad was unscathed, now surrounded by a protective bubble that shone like a full moon in the night sky.

Atem smirked, amused that they had switched roles in the Shadow Game compared to their Duel Monsters battles. Usagi's bond with her friends was so incredibly strong, even Atem could feel it standing next to her. "Alright, Mana, let's show him what you can do. Attack with Magical Heart Strike!"

"Alright!" The magician girl grinned, leaping up in the air. Waving her wand in the air, she jabbed it forward with a wink, sending hearts and swirls of black magics at Sekhmet.

Set scoffed again. "Red barrier!" Sekhmet leapt forward at the command, raising her hands up and creating an invisible barrier. The hearts simply bounced off it.

Mana frowned. That was disappointing. How was she going to prove herself as a worthy magician this way?

Usagi stared up at Mana worried until she heard the gentle words of Ami droning on about something strategic in chess. There were so many times she relied on Ami and Mercury for strategy, but they were also very close friends, sharing a deep bond with each other. Ami seemed to whisper something in Usagi's ear, and the princess began to grin. "Hypersomething or other revelations!"

Mana blinked at the words. She had no idea what Usagi was talking about, but suddenly before her spanned out a digital grid-like system running some analyses she didn't understand. What she did get, however, was that suddenly a massive bullseye formed at a point in the shield.

Atem watched the display from below. It was the same techniques that Mercury had used in battle and with her computer. "Mana, aim at the bullseye and strike again!"

"You got it!" the magician grinned, twirling her wand and sending hearts and black magics directly at the indicated location. The attack proved true, striking Sekhmet and sending her reeling backwards with one hand over her face.

"Damn you, magician!" Sekhmet hissed. "I'll curse you with the plague!" Still holding her eye, she drew out her free hand. Dozens of locusts swarmed forward, surrounding both magicians. They fought against them as the locusts chewed at their clothing and skin. They could feel their strength sapping quickly from them.

Usagi gasped. How could anyone fight against a plague? Her own powers were based around healing, but at the moment, she didn't have full access to them without being able to transform.

 _Why don't I help you out?_

Of course. Sailor V had some purifying abilities with her mirror. She could feel Minako leaning on her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders like she did when they hung out. She was there with Usagi too. The moon princess jabbed a finger at the sky. "Venus Love Megaton Shower!" The clouds parted, light from the sun streaming in through the darkness. The light enveloped the locust swarm, causing the locusts to wither and fall dead from the sky.

Set boiled over. How could they have a counter for every single move and why were they so ridiculous?

Usagi felt another presence standing beside her, hooking an arm around hers. Naru was there with her, leaning into her best friend. _I always wondered if you were Sailor Moon. I sort of had a feeling about it, you know? I'm not magical like the others, but maybe I can help out too._

Usagi couldn't turn down the request of her best friend. Even with the other guardians surrounding her, Naru always found a way to drag Usagi off to spend time with her. They had been best friends for so long. Their bond was incredibly strong. Usagi pointed at Set and shouted, "Chocolate Parfait!"

"What?" Atem stared at Usagi.

Usagi knew how ridiculous it sounded, but she'd seen some weird stuff in her time as a guardian. "Just trust me and point your staffs at Set!"

The magicians shrugged, pointing their staves at Set in unison. As soon as they did, chocolate exploded from them, caking both Set and Sekhmet in dessert. The two gods rubbed at their eyes, blinded by the unorthodox attack now making them sticky in the desert heat.

"Naru-chan, you're the best!" Usagi cheered. She hadn't expected to be that effective, but it was just what they needed. Set and Sekhmet kept trying to get the upper hand, but now that they were caked in chocolate syrup, they would find that to be a bit more difficult

 _Do not forget the power of the Moon. It is always with you, my daughter._

Usagi paused in her cheering, staring up at the sky. The voice wasn't those of the souls she'd been entrusted to protect. That was her mother's voice, the voice of Queen Serenity. The Moon peeked out from behind the clouds, barely visible in the daylight and beyond the gathered storm. "Hey, Atem-kun."

Atem was busy staring at the chocolatey mess. "Is it another chocolate attack?"

Usagi shook her head. "I have an idea. Do you think you could summon something that could power up the battle, something that could emphasize our strength?"

Atem glanced at her, noticing she was staring at the sky. He peered up, noticing the Moon peeking out from behind the clouds. "You want to use the Moon?"

"Something _on_ the Moon," Usagi corrected him. "I've only done it once before, when I was fighting against the evil Queen Metallia. Everyone else had fallen and it was my last hope. With everyone's strength and whatever else we can cook up here, I'm certain I can harness it again."

Atem turned back towards the capital city behind them. He couldn't see it in the distance, the Shadow Game's effects obscuring it from view. But as he stared into the storm, he could see all his friends gathered behind him. Even Kaiba stood in the back, folding his arms and looking disinterested.

" _We can do this together," Yugi reassured him._

" _We better," Jounouchi agreed. "I wanna kick that jerk's ass. He turned us into cards! Who does he think he is? Pegasus?!"_

Atem grinned. He could feel their power as they channeled their hopes for the future into him. He couldn't fail now. Whatever Usagi had planned, he had every intention of helping her achieve it. She was a champion of justice fighting beside a king of games. It was time to show Set who he was messing with. "I think I have just the thing. Mana, Mahad, I need your strength as well."

The two magicians landed on the sand next to him, crossing wand and staff with Atem's outstretched hand. As his 13-year-old self, he wouldn't be able to do this, but Setsuna's words still glued themselves to the back of his mind. This wasn't his younger self. This was the pharaoh's soul who had survived countless battles and duels across time.

Set pulled the chocolate from his eyes, fuming in anger as he saw the united force on the other side of the field. It was enough that he'd been doused in chocolate. It was another that these two losers were trying to foil his plans. "To hell with you two!"

Atem smirked, the power of his closest friends powering him as he summoned for the greatest power he could imagine. "I summon the embodiment of justice and light, Ma'at!"

"Impossible!" Set hissed.

The clouds began to part, the sky streaking with the light of the sun as the shadows began to disperse. The light beamed down, forming a magician in the sands covered in gold and adorned with the Millennium Items in his attire. A long white cape fluttered from his shoulders. He held a tall golden staff in his hands.

"Gods," Mahad stared.

"You said it, Master," Mana agreed.

Ma'at stood impossibly tall, illuminated by the bright rays of the sun, causing Set and Sekhmet to shield their eyes.

"It's time we end this," Atem proclaimed. "It's time we bring you to justice!"

 **...**

 **Author's notes**

I know I know it's been nearly half a year! All the madness that is the world really is terrible for creativity and honestly it's been punching me in the face. Hopefully I can get these last few chapters out soon and this one is a nice long one!

I couldn't fit all the friends into weird duel support spells, but at least I squeezed Naru in. I love the thought that she knew Usagi was Sailor Moon all along (she kinda figures it out in the manga as well).

And Ma'at is easily my favorite god card. So pretty!


	34. Moonlight Justice

_Ancient Egypt, 3000 years ago_

 _The battle had raged on for days. The temple grounds lay in ruins at their feet as many of the priests had fallen to a knee. Mahad and Seto stood in front of the pharaoh and the princess as the last line of defense against the god of chaos now threatening them, their summoned spirits barely clinging to whatever was left of their ba life force._

" _If we fall here…." Isis pushed herself weakly back up to her feet. "If the Moon falls into the hands of chaos….."_

" _We're well aware," Seto interrupted her sharply. "It'll be like the legendary battle where Set shatters the Moon. It'll be the end of all of Egypt." He glanced back at the pharaoh holding the moon princess. He wanted to blame her for this, but he honestly couldn't. This had turned into a battle of the gods and now they were caught in the middle of it, a bunch of high priests trying to avert the end of the world._

 _Serenity gripped Atem's shirt. This was all because this god wanted the power of the Silver Crystal. It was supposed to be a sign of life and peace, not a tool for war. She didn't want it to be like this, but she simply didn't have the power to fight yet. She had to rely on everyone else._

" _It's time you mortals die and I take what is mine!" Set proclaimed. He rose his staff to the sky, gathering sandstorms and red magics at his silent command. With a jab of the staff, he sent the magics careening at the fallen priests._

 _Serenity buried her face in Atem's tunic. It couldn't end like this._

 _Mahad poured the last of his power into the Illusion Magician summoned before him. But before he could command an attack, Set's assault suddenly veered around them as if it had collided with some sort of protective bubble with someone in blue standing before them. "Who….?"_

" _We've been sent by Sefkhet, the Moon goddess," the blue-clad guardian informed them over her shoulder. As Set's attack fizzled out, three other guardians appeared, each wearing different colors._

 _Serenity gasped. They had arrived, her own guardians had come to prevent certain disaster. "Mercury! Mars! Venus! Jupiter!"_

" _That's right," the green guardian nodded. "We're here, Princess. We've been sent to stop Set from taking the Moon again."_

 _Set scoffed, returning the staff to his side. "The guardians of the White Moon. I'm going to enjoy crushing you."_

…

As Ma'at's light streaked across the once darkened skies, Usagi could feel the memories of the true history slowly unfold in her mind. She had fallen from the Moon accidentally, leaning just a bit too far to look at the Earth and its beauty. Set was a greedy god, one that wanted the power of life, the power of the Silver Crystal, for himself and would destroy anything that got in his way.

And right now that greed was standing before her, still trying to gather enough shadows to counter Ma'at's massive amount of light.

Usagi stared up at the Moon, watching Ma'at's light reach that far into the sky. This was their chance to end this, to set history straight and stop Set's attempt to alter history and gain the unlimited power of the Silver Crystal.

She placed a hand over her heart, feeling her own crystal from within. Two crystals weren't supposed to exist within the same time, but sometimes that couldn't be helped. Drawing her hands forward, the crystal emerged, blossoming into a crystalline lotus.

Atem glanced at the crystal. He could feel the power radiating from it, the energy refreshing him so that summoning Ma'at along with the two magicians didn't strain his soul. What power that crystal must hold.

"Hey, Set!" Usagi called out to him. "Remember how my mom beat you back when you first tried to take the Moon? Well I can do that too!"

She raised the crystal above her head, her power combined with Ma'at's reaching high into the sky. The Moon grew brighter and brighter until it rivaled the light of the sun. The light began to gather at one point near the Mare Serenitatis. "Prayer Tower! Please use your power to stop Set and to fix time!" With her words, the gathered light fired off a massive blast of magic, showering down upon Set and Sekhmet, engulfing them completely.

Set attempted to shield against it but the magic was too powerful, fueled not only by the Silver Crystal but also Ma'at. Both Usagi and Atem had used their power in their own way to enact some moonlight justice on Set and his destructive companion.

As the beam of light fizzled out, Set had fallen, Sekhmet no longer seen. The god seethed, his plans completely undone by a pair of kids he tried to destroy. He had nothing left to fight, nothing left he could do. Time was correcting itself. He'd lost.

The winds began to kick up, pushing away the sands and the clouds and the gathered light and shadow. Usagi reached for Atem's hand, only to be pulled away from the winds. "Atem-kun!" She didn't even have enough time to celebrate, to meet with her friends again. The winds of time had already begun to blow into the deserts, breaking apart the magics of the Shadow Games as time had begun correcting itself.

"Usagi-san!" he reached for her, only to be pulled away in the opposite direction. He reached for the time key in his tunic. If this worked, then this wind was sending them home.

He wanted to stay longer, but he knew the future which would come. In only a few short years, the thief king would be terrorizing the kingdom and nearly bringing it to its knees. Atem wanted to spend what little time there was between now and then with all his treasured friends of this time. But at the same time, he had treasured friends waiting for him in the present.

It was a hard situation to be stuck in, even harder that he saw his long lost kingdom _again_. For real this time, not some Shadow RPG that the ring's spirit had concocted. It was really them. He wanted to live out his time here, to relive his life that he'd forgotten with his broken memories.

But that wasn't how it was supposed to be. And living here would mean abandoning everything he left undone back in the present. Sure, he could eventually rest, but now wasn't the time. There was just far too much left to do. There was that double date now. Yugi would never let him back out of it, not that he wanted to despite his protesting. There was much left he wanted to experience before his spirit had to rest.

He reached out towards his magician friends, his dearest companions from this time. It was hard to say goodbye again, but he knew they would continue to live on with him in this lifetime and the next. "Thank you, Mana, Mahad!" he called out to them as they faded from sight, pulled to the proper timeline by the time storm's winds. They whipped the pharaoh backwards and into the darkness.

….

" _Set is retreating," Mercury announced, pulling readings and data from the area as the sandstorms quieted._

" _I doubt he'll try this again anytime soon after that thrashing," Jupiter proclaimed._

" _Then Egypt, no, the Earth and the Moon, are now safe again," Mahad confirmed, withdrawing his Illusion Magician and turning to help the pharaoh and the princess to their feet. This battle could've spelled the end for them, but the Moon guardians had arrived just in time. Their combined forces had defeated a god. Not too long ago, he would've reasoned this impossible._

" _I did not foresee this path," Isis admitted. "But it is a welcomed one. Without your assistance, we likely would've fallen."_

" _It is rare we intervene with Earth's affairs, but something like this is greater than any of us here," Venus noted. "If Set had been victorious, it would've spelled the end for both our homes and our leaders." She offered a hand to Serenity, drawing the princess into her arms._

" _You have our gratitude," Atem thanked them._

" _And you have ours for protecting our princess," Venus returned the gratitude._

" _Will we ever see you again?" Mahad questioned._

" _Unlikely," Mars replied sharply. "Interaction between the Moon and the Earth is forbidden. The queen made an exception for this situation."_

 _Serenity peeked out from behind her guardians, peering back at the pharaoh and his priests. They had done so much for her and were so kind. She wanted to stay and spend some time with them peacefully. The pharaoh's lands were so beautiful and different from her own. She wanted to see them all. She wanted to stay with_ him. _They had shared something special for their short time together, and she felt deeply connected to him. If only they could see each other again._

 _She peered at the young pharaoh. He seemed disappointed she wouldn't be able to stay a bit longer. There wasn't much she could do at the moment. She knew the rules, but she'd probably break them again. "Perhaps in another lifetime we'll meet again."_

…

The room in the Hikawa Shrine was suddenly very crowded. With the temporal storm subsiding, they had appeared there one by one, with Atem and Usagi returning last. It was a pile of returned friends now tangled up in hugs and cheers of rejoicing.

Usagi and Atem managed to squeeze out of the crowd momentarily to stare at one another. This all happened because Serenity accidentally fell from the Moon to the Earth and landed in Egypt. Their paths had crossed not once but twice now in two different lifetimes.

They could remember the past encounter now, how both the priests and the guardians had fought so fiercely against Set, how they averted certain disaster so long ago. How they shared _a moment_. To think that she had forgotten about what she had shared with him in the past. She had never spoken of it to her guardians, nor had she ever mentioned it to Endymion.

Endymion was her destiny. Atem was a dear forgotten friend. Perhaps he was something more too. She blushed a bit.

"Seems we did meet again in another lifetime," Atem mused, "entangled in each others' worlds in a battle against Set once again."

"And this time, we can actually become friends," Usagi smiled brightly. "Well, we already did, didn't we? We can all become better friends. All of us together."

"We can duel and go to the theme park and get parfaits," Atem agreed. "Together."

"Don't forget the double date," Usagi reminded him.

He flushed red. "R-right… Aibou, stop giggling, it's not funny!"

"I'll take that as a yes, you'll be there," Usagi giggled.

Atem conceded. He couldn't win against both Yugi _and_ Usagi. "Fine, yes those too."

"But for now, let's all celebrate this victory," Usagi suggested. "We did promise Naru-chan we'd all get parfait. I hate to break such a delicious promise!"

 **...**

 **Author's musings**

The truth about the past is finally revealed! And Set got _flattened_. That tower of prayer kicks some serious ass. One more chapter! The conclusion is finally here (after a long break, I know I know!)


	35. Duels and Parfaits

Digitized smoke billowed out of the duel arena as the Chocolate Magician blasted the opposing side of the field.

"Not so fast, Mizuno-san!" Atem declared. "Magic Cylinders! Black Magician Girl, reverse the attack!"

Usagi rattled her spoon around the empty parfait glass. They had all rented out a duel arena for a couple hours, Atem and Ami hogging the field for much of the past hour as they mercilessly attempted to outdo each other. She'd never seen a duel quite like this before, two strategists playing their cards so smartly Usagi's head was spinning.

She stared at Atem instead. The memories of the past had come flooding back to her after they'd fixed time. She had spent some time on earth before the battle against Set began, spending most of it with the young pharaoh. They were both naive rulers, uncertain about the world and only certain about each other. They were intrigued with each other, enthralled by their beauty and their unyielding compassion for their people.

The pharaoh took the princess to the royal gardens several nights in a row. The gardens were a beautiful expanse of pools adorned by lilies and reeds. Ibis and cranes stalked about the pools by day, but at night, the ponds were quietly reflecting the full moon's light.

The first night, the moon princess stared at the sky. She had never seen her home from a distance, admiring the beauty of the Moon hanging in the sky against a bed of stars.

Each night they returned, staring up at the sky in each other's arms. The moon princess spoke of her home, of the Moon Kingdom where she lived. She wanted to return home but not yet. She wanted to spend more time with this young pharaoh she'd felt so close to so quickly. Yet Set sought to interrupt it all.

"Dunno why they keep doing this," Jounouchi slumped in his chair. "They've come up with a draw twice already."

"Well, if anything, Ami-chan is always persistent," Makoto admitted, chewing on her parfait spoon. "She's always really good at things that involve strategy and refuses to be beat in anything academic. You should've seen her during the high school entrance exams. She didn't sleep for weeks."

"Man I'd want just half of that smarts," Jounouchi confessed.

"Well if you'd actually study, you might have a chance," Anzu pointed out sharply.

"We could study together~!" Minako suggested. "I bet we could really hit the next exam out of the yard."

"Park, Minako-chan," Naru corrected her.

"What?" Minako blinked.

"Nevermind," Naru shook her head.

"We could all get together!" Usagi suggested. "Studying is sooo haaaaard and it'll be better with friends."

"You just want to play children's card games again," Rei pointed out.

"Duel Monsters!" Minako corrected her.

"S-so harsh, Rei-chaaaaaan!" Usagi cried.

The chocolate magician attacked the black magician girl, creating digital smoke and phantom chocolate across the arena. Atem frowned. Ami managed to one-up him this time, but it wouldn't last. He'd take the upper hand again, or at least would try. It wasn't often he found someone that could match his strategy. Kaiba was one, now Ami was another. The duel was enthralling and enticing, though he found himself slightly distracted.

Memories of the past had pieced themselves together after returning from the ancient past. It was perhaps the clearest memories he had from that time. The rest were still fractured as he attempted to recall everything about his time as a pharaoh.

After sickness claimed his father, Atem had been left with so much responsibility to run a kingdom without knowing anything about how to do so. It left him cold. But when the moon princess had suddenly fallen from the sky and ended up in the garden, the young pharaoh found himself warming up. He was so enthralled by the moon princess. She was so kind and compassionate and so intrigued by the moon in the sky. She warmed his heart and he wanted to draw closer to her.

Set interrupted their budding relationship, and then she had to return home. He found himself staring at the sky night after night, watching the moon make its journey until it disappeared for its journey through the underworld before appearing back on the horizon once again. He had heard so much of her kingdom, of her people and her different way of life. It was so foreign to him, he wanted to see it, to be there with her. Never did he expect at the time he would see that Moon Kingdom in person or under such strange circumstances.

" _You seem distracted, Other me,_ " Yugi noted.

"Just remembering the past." Atem peered at his nearly depleted deck. The duel had gone on so long that both sides were nearly out. This round would end up in a draw soon, his best cards now resting in his graveyard after some perfectly timed counters from Ami.

He peered across the field at Ami. "She's planning something." He wasn't quite sure what she had in mind, but he could make a few guesses. She had already played both Black Holes, Dust Tornados, and a few other crush cards. There was one that hadn't shown up, and if it was in her hand, it could end the game.

He thumbed through his deck. He had no reversal spell cards left, all of his negation cards now resting in the graveyard. She'd already hit him with two Graveyard Bombs, which used the spell negations in his hand and required two Pots of Greed to recover. He didn't have much left at this point to work with, but neither did she.

"I play one last card," Ami proclaimed. "Cosmic Hand Crush!"

"There it is." Atem knew that card was in her deck. She'd used it once before to force a draw. He used a similar tactic to force the second draw. Neither wanted to lose. The card forced both players to discard their current hand and draw a full hand from the deck. It was a risk as neither could count the opposition's cards at such a distance, but it was a strong risk with a strong reward. If she had more than a full hand's worth of cards in her deck and he didn't, she would win. But if he did and she didn't, He would win.

He knew full well he didn't have enough cards. Yet fortunately neither did she. He folded his arms. "Third draw. I must admit, I haven't found another duelist that can pull off a move so perfectly timed as you do."

Ami grinned as she gathered up her cards. "It has been awhile since I've had such a good challenge. And we did complete several games uninterrupted this time. Perhaps we'll need to reshuffle our decks and I'll challenge you to another game later. I will not be outdone next time!"

Atem grinned. "And neither would I. I couldn't call myself the King of Games otherwise."

Ami smiled. Perhaps she would try to take that title. "Let's join the others."

Atem nodded in agreement. What an intriguing group of friends he'd found after Yugi and Usagi accidentally bumped into each other running to school. Little did he expect a simple encounter would expand into a war across time to save their past, present, and future in a shadow game dueling with souls. It was a strange thought even just to think, and their duels had been just as _strange_.

Little did he also expect to learn more about his life as the pharaoh. With his memory still in pieces, he finally gained unexpected clarity.

"Glad you finally joined us," Jounouchi teased.

"We'll simply have to rethink our strategies and duel again later." Ami picked up the menu, skimming over the large selection of parfait looking for anything that had strawberries in it. They were in season, so they'd be quite sweet and tasty.

"We'll see about that next time," Atem grinned. "I'll be sure to counter your counter deck."

"We'll see about that," Ami declared.

He turned, plucking the menu off the table and catching Usagi's gaze. She stared up at him with the parfait spoon hanging out of her mouth and chocolate on her nose. He'd stared into those eyes before. When they didn't stare at the Moon, they stared at each other. Her eyes felt so warm and filled with hope. They had shared _something_ in the past.

And they had, Usagi was certain of it. Usagi had a future planned out, with a destiny to become the queen of Crystal Tokyo. But she still had a present to live. Perhaps she could enjoy that _something_ with Atem, with the mysterious pharaoh of the Earth who had caught her eye during an accidental journey to the green and blue bead she admired so much. She looked forward to what the future would truly bring.

 **...**

 **Author's notes:**

Thanks so much for reading! I know we had some trouble there with the chaos literally going on around us, but Atem and Usagi took care of that chaos. What they actually did when Serenity fell to Earth? I'll leave that up for you to decide.

Until the next fic!


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